Researchers have grown teeth using urine, which is potential source of stem cells, according to reports.
The findings from the research team in China were published in Cell Regeneration Journal. According to BBC News, researchers hope the technique will replace the loss of teeth due to poor dental hygiene or old age.
Duanqing Pei and his colleagues from Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, and other Chinese universities developed a chimeric tissue culture system that can manipulate the stem cells to create tiny structures that resemble teeth, according to Medical News Today.
Cells used in the study normally passed from the body and were harvested in the laboratory. The coaxed cells from a mouse were then implanted into the animals.
Three weeks later, a bundle of cells grew resembling teeth, according to BBC News.
"The tooth-like structure contained dental pulp, dentin, enamel space and enamel organ," researchers wrote.
However, the bundle of cells resembling teeth were softer than natural.
"Though these structures are a new achievement, the method involves mouse cells, has a success rate of just 30% and the structures produced are only about one-third as hard as human teeth," according to MedPage Today.
Some researchers disagreed with the technique.
Professor Chris Mason, a stem cell scientist at University College London, said urine was a poor starting point.
"It is probably one of the worst sources, there are very few cells in the first place and the efficiency of turning them into stem cells is very low," Mason told BBC News. "You just wouldn't do it in this way."
Mason added there are risks of contamination from the urine cells, such as bacteria, which are reportedly much higher than with other sources.
"The big challenge here is the teeth have got a pulp with nerve and blood vessels which have to make sure they integrate to get permanent teeth," Mason said.
What do you think of the use of urine stem cells to grow teeth? Leave a comment below.
