A new research has revealed that stem cells from wisdom
teeth may help treat cornea blindness. Most of the blindness across the world occurs
due to disease in cornea.
The researchers said "Stem cells from the dental
pulp of wisdom teeth can be coaxed to turn into cells of the eye's cornea and
could one day be used to treat corneal blindness."
The study shows the stem cells of the dental pulp
obtained from the routine human wisdom tooth are capable of being turned into Keratocytes,
the corneal stromal cells.
The team injected engineered Keratocytes in the corneas
of healthy mice and the keratocytes integrated without any signs of rejections.
Also, they used cells for developing constructs of corneal stroma similar to
natural tissues.
James Funderburgh, senior investigator and professor of
ophthalmology at University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine said. "Corneal
blindness, which affects millions of people worldwide, is typically treated with
transplants of donor corneas."
He added "Shortages of donor's cornea and rejection
of donor's tissue do occur, which might result in permanent blindness. Our work
is promising because using the patient's own cells for treatment could help us
avoid these problems."
The study was reported in journal Stem Cells
Translational Medicine.
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