Effect of Partial Substitution of Zr for Ti Solvent on Young's Modulus, Strength, and Biocompatibility in Beta Ti Alloy.

In orthopedics and dentistry, there is an urgent need to obtain low-stiffness implants that suppress the stress shielding caused by the use of metallic implants. In this study, we aimed to fabricate alloys that can reduce the stiffness by increasing the strength while maintaining a low Young's modulus based on the metastable β-Ti alloy. We designed alloys in which Ti was partially replaced by Zr based on the ISO-approved metastable β-Ti alloy Ti-15Mo-5Zr-3Al.

Regeneration of insulin-producing pancreatic cells using a volatile bioactive compound and human teeth.

Transplantation of insulin (INS)-secreting cells differentiated in vitro from stem cells promises a safer and easier treatment of severe diabetes mellitus. A volatile bioactive compound, hydrogen sulfide (H2S), promotes cell differentiation; human tooth-pulp stem cells undergo hepatic differentiation. The aim of this study is to develop a novel protocol using H2S to enhance pancreatic differentiation from the CD117(+) cell fraction of human tooth pulp.

Novel management of acute or secondary biliary liver conditions using hepatically differentiated human dental pulp cells.

The current definitive treatment for acute or chronic liver condition, that is, cirrhosis, is liver transplantation from a limited number of donors, which might cause complications after donation. Hence, bone marrow stem cell transplantation has been developed, but the risk of carcinogenesis remains. We have recently developed a protocol for hepatic differentiation of CD117(+) stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth (SHED).

Pancreatic differentiation of human dental pulp CD117⁺ stem cells.

Aim: Adult stem cells cannot proliferate to produce enough cells for human transplantation with keeping stem cell characteristics shown in the primary culture. We established a novel culture protocol using human dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) that can produce quantities sufficient for human transplantation. The present study assessed differentiation of DPSCs toward a pancreatic lineage in serum-free conditions, which is essential for safe transplantation.