BERLIN. The approach of researchers at TU Berlin for natural third teeth sounds simple in principle: dental pulp cells are obtained from the inside of an extracted tooth, which are cultivated and de-differentiated to form an active tooth germ.
If this tooth germ is planted in a patient’s jaw, it begins to communicate with the surrounding tissue and triggers tooth formation.
The approach has already worked in in-vitro experiments, reports the TU: a team led by Professor Roland Lauster took pulp cells from removed wisdom teeth, which they separated, cleaned and then cultivated in micro-titer plates, the surface of which was coated with a hydrogel. The hydrogel prevented the cells from adhering to the wall of the titer plates.
According to the TU, the free-floating cells are programmed to strive for a three-dimensional structure: Within 24 hours, the cells condensed independently into a cell ball 200-500 micrometers in size.
The aggregation subsequently triggered the expression of various genes and set the production of specific messenger substances in motion. In humans, it is precisely these messenger substances that are needed to interact with the surrounding jaw tissue.
When the researchers co-cultivated the tooth germs together with cells from the gums, they demonstrated an interaction that also takes place during embryonic tooth development.
Now that the in vitro tests have been successfully completed, the tooth germs are about to undergo their first preclinical tests, according to the TU. (bae)
