Fashion Ikedaa, Etsuko. (2009, Et

Fashion

Ikedaa, Etsuko. (2009, et al.). Fully functional bioengineered tooth replacement as an organ replacement therapy. PNAS. 106 (32): 113475-113480. Retrieved November 4, 2010 at http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/07/31/0902944106.full.pdf+html

The process of using stem cells to develop fully functional new organs to replace damaged organs has many applications, including in the field of dentistry. In the experiment chronicled in the article "Fully functional bioengineered tooth replacement as an organ replacement therapy," a tooth was replaced in an adult mouse, using embryonic stem cells. The scientific justification for the value of the experiment was that "almost all organs arise from their respective germs through reciprocal interactions between the epithelium and mesenchyme in the developing embryo. Therefore, it is predicted that a functional bioengineered organ could be produced by reconstituting organ germs between epithelial and mesenchymal cells in vitro, although the existence of organ-inductive stem cells in the adult body has not been fully elucidated yet with the exception of hair follicles and the mammary gland" (Ikedaa 2009, p. 113475).

Materials and methods

The design of the article was that of an experimental research study. In the experiment, a 3-dimensional bioengineered tooth germ was 'grown' in a laboratory and then implanted into an appropriately-sized hole made in the alveolar bone of a mouse with a lost tooth. The 'seed' of a living tooth was used. Dental surgery was selected to try out the researchers' theories about stem cell growth because of the value such regenerative therapy could provide to the field of dentistry but also because "the loss of deciduous and permanent teeth is thought to properly reproduce the processes which occur during embryonic development" (Ikedaa 2009, p. 113475).

Results

A fully functional tooth developed for the mouse as a result of the experiment. The authors proposed the use of such technology as a model for future organ replacement therapies. "The bioengineered tooth, which was erupted and occluded, had the correct tooth structure, hardness of mineralized tissues for mastication, and response to noxious stimulations such as mechanical stress and pain in cooperation with other oral and maxillofacial tissues" (Ikedaa 2009, p. 113475).