Baby Teeth are Rich Stem Cell Source
Posted on: Tuesday, 22 April 2003, 06:00 CDT
Health Newswire -- US scientists have found that “baby teeth” are a rich source of stem cells - a discovery that provides a potential alternative to the controversial practice of taking such cells from embryos.
They have found that the dental pulp in recently shed – or deciduous – baby teeth contains living stem cells that could prove invaluable for medical research because they are less developed than adult stem cells.
The scientists, from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research in Maryland, have called the newly discovered stem cells SHED (stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth).
While it has long been recognised that adult and embryonic stem cells are different, SHED represent another category altogether, says the team.
“Doctors have successfully harvested stem cells from umbilical cord blood for years,” said Dr Songtao Shi, the study’s senior author. “Our finding is similar in some ways, in that the stem cells in the tooth are likely latent remnants of an early developmental process.”
The study, published in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows SHED to be unique when compared with adult stem cells. They are long-lived, grow rapidly in culture and have the potential to induce the formation of specialised dentin, bone and neuronal cells.
The researchers also found that SHED behaved differently from dental pulp stem cells derived from permanent or adult teeth, which they had studied previously.
“They exhibited an ability to grow much faster and doubled their populations in culture at a greater rate, suggesting SHED may be in a more immature state than adult stem cells,” explained study author Dr Masako Miura.
More research is needed to determine which cell types can be generated from SHED, the team says.
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