After testing their idea on cell cultures and laboratory mice, scientists in France suggest that a new biomaterial shown to regenerate bone could be used as a gel inserted in tooth cavities to encourage tooth regeneration, thus avoiding the need to drill and fill the teeth.
The researchers decided to try a version of a peptide called MSH (melanocyte-stimulating hormone), that had already been shown to regenerate bone. The version they used is called PGA-a-MSH, a chemical combination of poly-l-glutamic acid (PGL) and alpha-MSH.
They tested the biomaterial on cultures of human dental pulp fibroblasts, the cells that produce the collagen and other extra-cellular materials that form the structure of new tissue, and found it had “potential effects in promoting human pulp fibroblast adhesion and cell proliferation”.
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