Gut organoid, turned inside out

A miniature intestine with significant differences from previous similar "organoids" was grown by Japanese scientists

Marina Astvatsaturyan, Echo of Moscow

A group of researchers from the National Center for Child Health and Development (National Center for Child Health and Development), Tohoku University (Tohoku University) and Dai Nippon Printing Co published in the journal of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (American Society for Clinical Investigation) JCI Insight an article on the creation of human embryonic cells of the world's first intestine capable of peristalsis (Uchida et al., A xenogeneic-free system generating functional human gut organoids from pluripotent stem cells). The length of such a miniature intestine is from one to two centimeters.

In addition to stem cells isolated from the material left over from artificial insemination procedures, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) were used in the cultivation of the "organoid" – they are similar to embryonic ones, and were obtained by reprogramming adult cells. The grown intestine is able to absorb and break down proteins, almost like a real one, it is activated under the influence of laxatives and inactivated in the presence of antidiarrheal drugs.

The technology of its creation "will become a revolutionary tool for the study of incurable diseases, such as congenital cider of the short intestine or ulcerative colitis, as well as for the development of new ways of their therapy," Hidenori Akutsu from the Center for Children's Health said in a comment to Nature News.

To create a mini-intestine, he and his colleagues used Dai Nippon Printing microfabrication technology, which creates a microenvironment on culture plates with embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells that promotes cell growth and self-assembly. Two months later, the scientists saw samples of a miniature intestine, although turned inside out, but functioning as a real small intestine. 

Bioengineering is not the first time that small intestine creation is being addressed. Exactly two years ago, American scientists reported the creation of an "organoid" that possessed elements of the mucous membrane of a functioning intestine and was able to absorb such simple compounds as sugars, as well as maintain intercellular connections. And even earlier, a miniature "intestinal organoid" was obtained from induced human pluripotent cells and successfully planted in a mouse kidney capsule, where it was provided with the blood supply necessary for growth. In those experiments, the possibility of using human cells for growing potentially transplantable material was demonstrated, which is important in the paradigm of personalized medicine. Of the functional elements of the real intestine, that organoid had only a mucous membrane.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  19.01.2017