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Tokyo, Japan, August 2, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Japanese researchers from the Tokyo University of Science have extracted successfully grown and transplanted new teeth from adult mice stem cells.

Takashi Tsuji and his team published a paper in PLoS One, explaining the process that began with the removal of stem cells from the molar teeth of mice. The stem cells were placed in a mold in order to control how the teeth grew. Researchers, then, transplanted the full tooth units into the jaws of one-month-old mice. The Japanese researchers’ report indicated that the teeth fused with the jaw bones and tissues and that nerve fibers were detected growing in the new teeth.

The mice with the transplanted teeth were able to eat and chew normally without any complications, Tsuji’s team observed.

This latest development adds to a now long list of reported research successes using ethical adult stem cells for treatment versus far more costly and so far failed embryonic stem cell research projects which involve the destruction of living embryos. 

This past June the Vatican announced its investment of $1 million in U.S. biopharmaceutical company NeoStem, which works with adult stem cells to find cures for disease and injuries.

At the Vatican press conference, NeoStem CEO Dr. Robin Smith said, “There are people that are focused on advancing all types of stem cell therapy, both embryonic and adult, but I think the safety profiles of the adult stem cell are going to assist in making that advance more rapidly and we even see today there’s over 70 diseases that are using adult stem cells to treat them as part of the standard of care.”

Adult stem cell treatment recently produced spectacular results for the return to Major League Baseball of 2005 Cy Young Award Winner Bartolo Colon. The procedure, which took only 45 minutes to complete, was performed at the Clinica Union Medica in the city of Santiago in the Dominican Republic and involved “extracting fat and bone marrow stem cells from Colon and injecting them back into the pitcher’s elbow and shoulder to help repair ligament damage and a torn rotator cuff.” In January of this year, the New York Yankees signed Colon to a contract worth $900,000.

On April 4, LifeSiteNews reported on the use of adult stem cells by researchers at the University of Minnesota to create a living human heart. Lead researcher and director of the university’s Center for Cardiovascular Repair Dr. Doris Taylor is one of the world’s leaders in heart organ repair and regeneration.

Another notable report this year this year was that a team of researchers at the University of Miami “has shown that damaged heart tissue can be repaired by injecting the patient’s own stem cells directly into the heart.”