Scientists develop toothy way to treat spinal injuries
December 4th, 2011 - 6:20 pm ICT by IANSLondon, Dec 4 (IANS) A new study has found how teeth could be linked with spinal cord injuries and help patients walk again.
Researchers helped mice with broken spines regain some movement in their lower limbs by implanting dental pulp stem cells.
The study, led by Japan’s Nagoya University, could help patients with severe mobility problems live life normally.
The pulp staves off the death of neurons or nerve cells, regenerates severed nerves and helps other cells supporting the spine grow, the Daily Mail reported.
Scientists say that it can be extracted from the centre of adult wisdom teeth without adverse health effects.
“We propose that tooth-derived stem cells may be an excellent and practical cellular resource for the treatment of spinal cord injuries,” the report said.
“Within the context of spinal cord injuries, this is a relatively new and under-studied source of stem cells which appears to show remarkably promising results,” said Mark Bacon, researcher at charity Spinal Research.
“The results have been achieved following the immediate transplanting of the cells into the injured area,” he said.
- Bad breath chemical converts dental pulp into liver cells - Feb 27, 2012
- New treatment could help minimize nerve damage in spinal cord injuries - May 04, 2011
- Your child's milk tooth can save her life - Mar 30, 2012
- Now stem cell treatment for paralysed patients - Aug 18, 2010
- Scientists focus on human cells for spinal cord injury repair - Mar 03, 2011
- Soon, nano-sized dental film to bring decayed teeth back to life - Jul 01, 2010
- Human neural stem cells 'can restore mobility in chronic spinal cord injury cases' - Aug 20, 2010
- New findings could lead to improved treatment of spinal cord injuries - Nov 16, 2010
- Paralysed patient becomes world's first to get stem cell therapy - Oct 12, 2010
- Genes that regenerate nerves after injury isolated - Sep 22, 2011
- How nerve cells regenerate after injury - Sep 28, 2010
- Extracted wisdom teeth could be new stem cell reservoirs - Jun 26, 2010
- Paralysed patient gets stem cells to walk again - Oct 12, 2010
- Enzyme treatment could improve recovery from spinal cord injury - Jun 10, 2010
- US greenlight to world's first stem cell treatment on humans - Aug 02, 2010
Tags: adverse health effects, daily mail, dental pulp, mark bacon, mice, mobility problems, nagoya university, nerve cells, nerves, neurons, promising results, researcher, scientists, spinal cord, spinal cord injuries, spinal injuries, spine, staves, stem cells, wisdom teeth