Almost a real piece of intestine

The intestines that work in the mouse body
grown by tissue engineers from human cells

Marina Astvatsaturyan, Echo of Moscow

The small intestine, another product of bioengineering, carries important elements of the mucous membrane of the functioning intestine and is able to absorb compounds such as sugars, as well as maintain intercellular connections, according to Medicalexpress (a press release from Researchers Grow Functional Tissue–Engineered Intestine from Human Cells can be read on the website of Children's Hospital Los Angeles – VM).

The work (Grant et al., Human and Mouse Tissue-Engineered Small Intestine Both Demonstrate Digestive And Absorbent Function – VM), published in the January issue of the American Journal of Physiology of the Digestive Tract and Liver (American Journal of Physiology – Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology), was another step towards the development of regenerative medicine, designed to to restore the affected areas of the body by bioengineering methods.

Tissue-engineered small intestine (TESI), grown from stem cells contained in the intestine by scientists at the Los Angeles Children's Hospital, opens up prospects for effective treatment of short bowel syndrome, a serious disorder that is most often found in children with congenital bowel malformations, especially in premature infants.

A group of Los Angeles bioengineers led by Tracy Grickscheit has previously demonstrated the possibility of growing a small intestine from donor tissue of this part of the human gastrointestinal tract, when implanted in mice that are incapable of immune rejection.

Natural sections painted with three different dyes (on the left)
and tissue-engineered (right) small intestine.
Photo by Grikscheit Lab – VM.

But in those studies, only the basic components of the small intestine that support its structure were identified. In order for such an implant to be clinically promising, it is necessary to make sure that it has barrier functions while maintaining the ability to absorb nutrients and maintain water-salt metabolism. The study now being published describes a tissue-engineered small intestine, which contains not only human stem cells from which it is grown, but also progenitor cells that provide regeneration as living tissue is replaced. These cells are found in specific areas of engineered tissue and quite close to other specialized cells that are necessary for the small intestine to become a fully functional organ.

Some time ago, we reported on another grown sample of a functional human intestine. It was received by bioengineers of the Medical Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital (Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center) in Ohio. This miniature "intestinal organoid", as the authors called it, was successfully planted in a mouse kidney. Unlike the current tissue-engineered intestine, the intestinal organoid was grown from induced pluripotent cells, that is, from cells that were obtained by reprogramming adult cells, therefore, the patient himself can theoretically serve as a donor of "repair material" with this approach. This is in the paradigm of personalized medicine.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru16.01.2015