Three organoids in one chip
The world's first system of three organoids has been created
Sergey Kolenov, Hi-tech+
A system of organoids from the liver, pancreas and bile ducts will help to test drugs and study the causes of diseases. And in the future, on its basis, they can create a technology for growing full-fledged organs for transplantation.
Scientists have made significant progress in creating individual organoids – miniature analogues of internal organs, such as the brain and heart. They are necessary for conducting experiments and testing new drugs. However, in a real organism, different systems are interconnected. Thus, in order for the simulation to be more accurate, the organoids need to be combined.
This problem was solved by researchers from the Children's Hospital in Cincinnati, whose work tells Science Daily.
Article by Koike et al. Modeling human hepato-biliary-pancreatic organogenesis from the foregut–midgut boundary is published in the journal Nature – VM.
They first grew interconnected organoids of the liver, pancreas and bile ducts.
At the first stage, the team transformed human skin cells into pluripotent stem cells, and then directed their development in the right direction. As soon as the organoids became mature enough, they were placed next to each other and allowed to interact.
The researchers found that the cells at the border of the organoids began to transform. Over the course of 70 days, more and more specialized cell types were formed in the culture.
The process was completely autonomous, and as a result, the system of three organoids began to process bile acids – just as if it digested substances coming from food.
The achievement opens the way to the study of embryonic development, drug testing and disease diagnosis. However, the authors of the work hope that eventually it will form the basis of a technique for growing organs for transplantation. They are currently trying to incorporate immune cells and blood vessels into the system of linked organoids.
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