Dental stem cells could repair eyeballs

February 24, 2015

Stop staring into the sun. (Credit: Thinkstock)

Shayne Jacopian for redOrbit.com @ShayneJacopian

Oculus reparo!

The incantation uttered by Hermione Granger on the train to Hogwarts in Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone translates to eye repair, but the spell simply fixed Harry Potters broken glasses. The actual key to repairing damaged eyeballs may lie in extracted teeth, according to research from the University of Pittsburgh.

Corneal tissue is normally transplanted from donors, and many times the body rejects the foreign matter. Growing new corneal tissue with a patients own cells could effectively eliminate these problems.

[STORY: Mice stem cells capable of regenerating bone, cartilage]

The scientists extracted dental pulp from human wisdom teeth and used stem cells to engineer corneal stromal cells, or keratocytes. They then injected the human cells into the corneas of mice, where they showed no signs of rejection.

Cells extracted from humans still worked in mice. Science: 1, Magic: 0.

Less focus on donors

See the article here:
Dental stem cells could repair eyeballs