See the Sun expand and contract like a pufferfish — January’s best science images
Bio-tooth. These are ameloblasts — specialized epithelial cells crucial for the formation of tooth enamel. The cells secrete an enamel matrix that mineralizes over time to become as hard as stainless steel. Ameloblasts disappear once the layer has formed, making enamel impossible to repair. This image shows sensory cells called odontoblasts inside the dental pulp. These cells enable the teeth to detect sensations of cold and touch, and form new dentin layers when needed. “Researchers including myself utilize oral-derived stem cells to achieve tooth regeneration, including whole tooth regeneration or replacement, or what we call bio-tooth,” says Shuntaro Yamada, a stem-cell biologist at the University of Bergen, Norway, who took the images.
Shuntaro Yamada & Kateřina Holomková
