Scientists Grow Replacement Human Teeth In Mouse Kidneys

sciencehabit writes "When an adult loses a tooth, there's no hope of growing a new one—unless you've got a mouse kidney handy. In a new study, researchers injected human gum tissue extracted during oral surgery into the molars of fetal mice. After giving the cells a week to get used to each other, the scientists implanted the chimeric concoction into the protective tissue surrounding the kidneys of living mice. There, 20% of the cells developed into objects recognizable as teeth, complete with the root structures missing from artificial tooth implants. The next step is to transplant these so-called 'bio-teeth' back into human mouths and see if they grow into something that we can chew on—or rather, with."

They've got this backwards.

[Anonymous Coward]

They would find it much more lucrative if they could figure out a way to grow replacement KIDNEYS.

Re:Grow it in your ovary.

[zifferent]

Warning! Do not. I repeat do not do a Google Image search on "Dermoid Cyst" There is not enough brain bleach in the universe.

Re:They've got this backwards.

[dietdew7]

We already grow replacement kidneys in the bodies of third world humans.

How do rat's pass that?

[kimgkimg]

Ouch, talk about a nasty kidney stone...