Japanese researchers have grown the first-ever fully functional bioengineered tooth inside the mouth of a mouse.
Grow new teeth - Mouse shows off bioengineered molar (glowing green)
The bioengineered tooth, which was grown in place of a lost molar, has the same properties of the old tooth and is strong enough to allow the mouse to chew food normally.
To create the new tooth, the researchers -- led by Tokyo University of Science professor Takashi Tsuji -- took epithelial cells and mesenchymal cells (about 50,000 each) from a mouse embryo and cultivated them together in a collagen-based medium to create a tiny tooth bud -- a mass of tissue that has the potential to develop into a tooth.
They then implanted the 0.5-mm tooth bud into the jawbone of an adult mouse in place of a lost tooth. After 37 days, a new tooth sprouted, and after 50 days, it had grown to the same height as the adjacent teeth. The bioengineered tooth has the same hardness as ordinary teeth and it contains blood vessels and nerves, making it sensitive to external stimuli and pain, according to the researchers.
This research is expected to advance the development of "tooth regenerative therapy," which may one day allow doctors to replace diseased or damaged teeth with bioengineered teeth grown from stem cells such as induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. This type of treatment could ultimately eliminate the need for dentures and false teeth.
robot makes music
Sounds to me like this is cause for celebration! Time to break out the cookies and cake and soda! No more worrying about rotten teeth, we'll just grow them anew!
What? What? Oh, health complications from too much sugar like diabetes and an early grave still? Damn.
[]Jono
That is awesome. I could use one. he he he...
[]Alex
That's crazy. Hopefully by the time I need this sort of thing it will be ready for use in humans. Kinda freaky though.
[]This reminds me, apparently babies less than 1 year old can regrow finger tips if they are injured, but we lose the ability when we get older. I saw on a TED talk that they've managed to regrow severed finger tips in adults (using stem cells). The possibilities are pretty mind boggling.
DAn
It seems that every week we are hearing more breakthroughs in the field of bioengineering. I wonder how long it will be before our doctors can just grow us the organs we need for transplants.
[]Ryan
Wow, actually. This is amazing technology. Is it just me though, or does this rat have wasabi in the back of his throat..
[]Allie
That's pretty cool, but still a little creepy.
[]someone
It is amazing and a good acheivement. The problem i understand was though it grew as it would normally through the gum, it did not grow to the same size as the original. It was smaller in width and length, as can be seen in the pic, though the same height.
[]Martha Poleyestewa
[..] A little unrelated, but I really liked this website post [..]
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