A new, ethics-free source of stem cells?

Researchers in Japan recently claim to have been able to extract stem cells from removed wisdom teeth. The scientists at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology who discovered this possibility understand that this could be a huge advancment in the bioengineering and medical treatment fields. As we have recently learned, stem cells are pluripotent, which means that they have the ability, under the right circumstances, to development into many specialized cell types. Therefore, these cells could be used in medicine to treat many diseases that, so far, have gone untreated. The stem cells could be developed into cells, which will make a needed organ or tissue that a patient needs. By using the patient's stem cells, doctors can remove the worry of having the body attack the foreign and unknown object. Obviously, this could be a great advantage to medicine, but previously these stem cells were thought to only come from embryos. This raises many ethical and religious issues, and causes much disagreement about research and development in this field. Therefore, the discovery of stem cells present in wisdom teeth could end all of this debate and still continue to further medical treatment. Although this development will take several years to possibly be used in the field, it is very exciting. Wisdom teeth are usually simply thrown away anyway, so there should be little negative feelings toward this source of stem cells. The researchers also found that the preserved teeth could be used the same as newly extracted teeth. They are also looking into the content of baby teeth and if they could also be a source of stem cells. This is a very exciting development and a possibly great development for medical treatment.



Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7576131.stm



Kathryn West 501