• Question: how can you turn teeth stem cells into bones???? it sounds strange

    Asked by alishac to Matt on 11 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: Matthew Tomlinson

      Matthew Tomlinson answered on 11 Nov 2013:

      It’s definitely strange when you first get the cells, my PhD was on something called the thymus which is in the chest, near the heart, so working on teeth was a bit of a shock! We can turn the dental stem cells into bone-like structures by adding tiny amounts of 3 chemicals to them, these are a steroid called dexamethasone, ascorbic acid (vitamin C!) and glycerophosphate. After growing with these chemicals for about 4 weeks the cells start to turn into bone-like cells and produce mineral deposits, like those that make up bones.

      This is one of the cell types we can make from dental stem cells, the cells can also make (as well as dental tissue), in the lab, cartilage (the soft part at the end of joints), fat, nerve cells, muscle and ligament (the stretchy material that holds joints together). But they can’t make liver cells or skin cells. This is due to something called ‘lineage restriction’ and it means that the dental stem cells are only able to make certain tissues which is probably because of genetic causes and is not something that affects embryonic stem cells. To make these other cells we just change the chemicals we give them.

      I hope that answers your question, if there’s anything you’d like to know let me know.

Comments

  • Photo: octopus

    octopus commented on :

    The point of stem cells are that they are very versitile so can be made into anypart of your body. Also stem cells are found in bones anyway, in the bone marrow.

    • Photo: Matt

      Matt commented on :

      Hi Octopus, you’re right stem cells are found in the bone marrow, in fact there are two major types, blood forming haematopoietic stem cells and bone forming stem cells known as mesenchymal stem cells or marrow stromal cells (MSCs). However these are really really rare (0.01% ish) and getting bone marrow is quite a painful procedure, which is why we are experimenting with dental stem cells because they are easier to get to, they grow quickly and they make a good bone substitute.

      To answer your other comment, not all stem cells can make all parts of the body, in fact the only true stem cell is a fertilised egg as this can also make placenta which no other stem cell can do. Embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells can in theory make every other cell type in the body, but this is not true of adult stem cells, such as those from teeth and bone marrow. This is because of ‘lineage restriction’ which means these cells can only make a certain number of other tissue types, for example blood stem cells can make red clood cells, white blood cells and blood vessel cells, but not a skin cell. I guess it depends on how you define a stem cell really!

      Thanks for the comment and if you have any questions let me know!

  • Photo: alishac

    alishac commented on :

    that is really strange but it sounds really cool