Corneal Scarring Helped With Wisdom Teeth Stem Cells

Researchers have discovered how stem cells from dental pulp of wisdom teeth can be used to form cells of the eye's cornea. With future studies, researchers hope that the information may be used to treat corneal scarring.

Corneal blindness, which affects millions of people worldwide, is treated with transplants of donor corneas. However, there are oftentimes shortages for this issue. 

"Shortages of donor corneas and rejection of donor tissue do occur, which can result in permanent vision loss," said senior investigator James Funderburgh, also an ophthalmology professor at the University of Pittsburgh, in a news release. "Our work is promising because using the patient's own cells for treatment could help us avoid these problems."

During the study, researchers injected altered keratocytes into the corneas of healthy mice. They also took the cells and made constructs of corneal stroma akin to natural tissue.

As previous studies have shown that dental pulp stem cells can be reused for bone, neural and other stem cells, they may carry potential for regenerative therapies.

"Other research has shown that dental pulp stem cells can be used to make neural, bone, and other cells," said lead study author Fatima Syed-Picard, also of the university's ophthalmology department. "They have great potential for use in regenerative therapies."

Researchers hope to study whether this treatment method could aid corneal scarring in animals in the future.

More information regarding the findings can be seen via the journal STEM CELLS Translational Medicine.

The National Institutes of Health grants, Research to Prevent Blindness, and the Eye and Ear Foundation of Pittsburgh funded the work.