Bioengineered salivary gland (green, GFP-epithelial cells and TRITC-gelatin-injected)TSUJI ET AL.A team led by investigators at the Tokyo University of Science (TUS) has created precursors to salivary and lacrimal glands that, when transplanted into mice, successfully connected to the host ducts and nervous system. Once connected, these lab-grown secretory glands helped to restore the production of saliva and tears in animals from which healthy salivary or lacrimal glands had previously been excised. TUS’s Takashi Tsuji and colleagues reported their results in two papers published today (October 1) in Nature Communications.
“People have done a lot of work with stem cells, but this is the first time I’ve seen transplantation of a whole [bioengineered] salivary gland,” said the University of Buffalo’s Olga Baker, an assistant professor of oral biology, who was not involved in the work. “To my knowledge, this is a first.”
Dysfunction of the salivary and tear glands are associated with a variety of diseases, and can cause additional complications. Patients with an autoimmune disease called Sjogren’s syndrome, for example, typically experience both dry eyes and mouth. If researchers were able to engineer working replacement glands for humans, they could restore at least some of the lost function in people with this and other diseases.
To create the secretory glands, Tsuji and his colleagues ...
