Using Wisdom Teeth To Make Stem Cells 82
An anonymous reader writes "For most people, wisdom teeth are not much more than an annoyance that eventually needs to be removed. However, a new study appearing in the September 17 Journal of Biological Chemistry shows that wisdom teeth contain a valuable reservoir of tissue for the creation of stem cells; thus, everyone might be carrying around his or her own personal stem-cell repository should he or she ever need some. Groundbreaking research back in 2006 revealed that inducing the activity of four genes in adult cells could 'reprogram' them back into a stem-cell-like state; biologically, these induced-pluripotent stem cells are virtually identical to embryonic stem cells, opening up a new potential avenue for stem-cell therapy whereby patients could be treated with their own stem cells."
Re:And baby teeth (Score:5, Informative)
Re:And baby teeth (Score:4, Informative)
some biology 101 for you, the pulp of those teeth are dead without living tissue in them. The roots are dissolved by the body and the tissues inside die.
In a related news... (Score:5, Informative)
They used wisdom teeth that had been frozen for three years after being removed from a 10-year-old girl.