Stem cells hold the key to wound healing, as they develop into specialized cell types throughout the body -- including in the teeth
Stem cells hold the key to wound healing, as they develop into specialized cell types throughout the body -- including in the teeth. Now an international team of researchers has found a mechanism that could offer a potential novel solution to tooth repair. Published today (Friday 9 August) in Nature Communications , the study showed that a gene called Dlk1 enhances stem cell activation and tissue regeneration in tooth healing. The work was led by Dr Bing Hu from the University of Plymouth's Peninsula Dental School, with collaboration from researchers worldwide. The science behind the discovery Dr Hu and his team discovered a new population of mesenchymal stem cells (the stem cells that make up skeletal tissue, such as muscle and bone) in a continuously growing mouse incisor model. They showed that these cells contribute to the formation of tooth dentin, the hard tissue that covers the main body of a tooth. Importantly, the work showed that when these stem cells ar...
