Elementary human teeth have been developed by scientists using human urine. The results of this study were published in a journal devoted to cell regeneration. There are millions of unfortunate people who lose a few of their teeth either because of growing age or because of poor oral hygiene. A group of scientists from China have been able to coax stem cells derived from human urine to develop into a structure that looks like rudimentary human teeth. There are some who may be offended by the mere idea of using human urine to make teeth but then it is not a joke.
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It may be a long arduous journey for the scientists as the discovery that new teeth can be grown using stem cells is in a
rudimentary stage now. In the study that has been published by the team of scientists at Guangzhou Institute of Biomedicine and Health, it has been shown clearly how human urine can help in the development of new tooth like structure inside the mouth. The scientists used mice as their subjects in their experiments in this study.
Not the only study of its kind
Using the urine of human beings, these scientists extracted stem cells and placed them inside the kidneys of the mice. In a matter of a few weeks, these implanted cells developed into structures that resembled like teeth. These structures contained the enamel, the pulp, and the dentin that are required to create teeth. For many, the use of urine to develop teeth may be unusual to say the least but this is not the only study of its kind as scientists have been working on tooth replacement and development of teeth with human cells for a long time now. A recent study in UK suggested that it was possible to develop human teeth using gum cells from human beings and then combining them with embryonic mice cells.
While it may be a long wait for us to get lost teeth replaced by teeth developed using such a method, there are doctors and scientists who are questioning the study saying there is a huge risk of contamination because of the source of these stem cells. One such critic is Dr. Chris Mason from University College London who says that human urine contains very few cells in the first place and the effort to produce stem cells from these cells is futile. Also, there are many more bacteria in urine than any bother source of cells.
The teeth that have been developed by the Chinese scientists are not actually working, normal teeth. They are not hard enough and are not even shaped like human teeth. They are not attached to jaws either. The biggest challenge however lies ahead. According to Dr Chris Mason, scientists would have to find a way to integrate this tooth like structure into the pulp of blood and nerve cells in human gums.
The researchers in China collected cells from human urine and coaxed them into becoming stem cells.
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