ISTANBUL

Japanese researchers have created the world's first 3D jawbone-like organoids from human-induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, Jiji Press reported Tuesday.

After being transplanted into mice, the organoids have developed into mature bone tissue.

The team from Kyoto University believes that the method used in the research will likely be applied to regenerative medicine and drug discovery.

Their findings were published in an online edition of the international journal Nature Biomedical Engineering in July.

Creation of a jawbone was considered to be difficult, as its development process differs from other bones in the human body. There was also no sufficient technology to replicate the network structure of the bone cells that make up the vast majority of the jawbone.

Researchers collected and cultured human iPS cells to create cell aggregates that would eventually turn into jawbone cells.