Abstract
Marine collagen from fish scales, skin, and bone has been widely investigated to apply as a scaffold and a carrier because of its bioactive properties, such as its excellent biocompatibility, low antigenicity, high biodegradability, and cell growth potential. Generally, fish collagen is more sensitive to heat denaturation than bovine collagen because of its low denaturation temperature, which has made it difficult to use as a biomaterial. The lower stability is considered to be due to the lower hydroxyproline content of fish collagen compared to bovine collagen. Fortunately, tilapia, originally tropical fish, meets the minimum requirements for physicochemical properties. National projects are named Highly Advanced Medical Treatment Development Fields (so-called Super Special Fields) in Japanese regenerative medicine. One project was selected from dentistry, the title of which is “The application of new treatments for dental caries · pulpitis through dentine · pulp regeneration using pulp stem cells.” The role of our department for this project is to evaluate the safety and stability of the alternative, fish collagen. Furthermore, standard operating procedures are established through the transportation of extracted tooth and isolated pulp stem cells to popularize this special treatment for general practitioners of dental clinics.