According to the scientists, who published their findings online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the stem cells are unique compared to many "adult" stem cells in the body. They are long lived, grow rapidly in culture, and, with careful prompting in the laboratory, have the potential to induce the formation of specialized dentin, bone, and neuronal cells. If followup studies extend these initial findings, the scientists speculate they may have identified an important and easily accessible source of stem cells that possibly could be manipulated to repair damaged teeth, induce the regeneration of bone, and treat neural injury or disease.
"Doctors have successfully harvested stem cells from umbilical cord blood for years," said Dr. Songtao Shi, a scientist at NIH's National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) and the senior author on the paper. "Our finding is similar in some ways, in that the stem cells in the tooth are likely latent remnants of an early developmental process."
Shi and colleagues named the cells SHED, which stands for Stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth. The term "deciduous teeth" is the formal name for what most people call colloquially "baby teeth." Children normally develop a set of 20 deciduous teeth, which appear after six months of life and generally are replaced, one tooth at a time, between age 6 and 12.
Shi said the unique acronym was needed to differentiate SHED from stem cells in adult tissues, such as bone
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Contact: Bob Kuska
kuskar@nidcr.nih.gov
301-594-7560
NIH/National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research
21-Apr-2003