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A surprising study has found that a simple acid bath might turn cells in the body into stem cells that could one day be used for tissue repair and other medical treatments.

The technique, performed only with cells from mice, might turn out to be a quicker and easier source of multipurpose stem cells than methods now in use.

“If reproducible in humans, this could be a paradigm changer,” said Dr. Robert Lanza, chief scientific officer of the biotechnology company Advanced Cell Technology, who was not involved in the work.

The new technique was developed by researchers at the Riken Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe, Japan, and at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston. Two papers by the researchers were published in the journal Nature on Wednesday.

Dr. Charles A. Vacanti, director of the laboratories for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine at Brigham and an author of the studies, said the technique could also raise ethical issues because it might provide an easier way than current cloning techniques of creating a duplicate of an animal...