Development of Colonic Organoids Containing Enteric Nerves or Blood Vessels from Human Embryonic Stem Cells.

Chul Soon Park,Le Phuong Nguyen,Dongeun Yong

doi:10.3390/cells9102209

Abstract

The increased interest in organoid research in recent years has contributed to an improved understanding of diseases that are currently untreatable. Various organoids, including kidney, brain, retina, liver, and spinal cord, have been successfully developed and serve as potential sources for regenerative medicine studies. However, the application of organoids has been limited by their lack of tissue components such as nerve and blood vessels that are essential to organ physiology. In this study, we used three-dimensional co-culture methods to develop colonic organoids that contained enteric nerves and blood vessels. The development of enteric nerves and blood vessels was confirmed phenotypically and genetically by the use of immunofluorescent staining and Western blotting. Colonic organoids that contain essential tissue components could serve as a useful model for the study of colon diseases and help to overcome current bottlenecks in colon disease research.

Highlights

Even though mice have been used as a disease model in biomedical fields, recent studies have shown that mice do not reproduce the gene expression patterns that are induced by inflammatory disease in humans
Extensive research has been conducted on organoids, few studies exist of human colonic organoids (HCOs) [5,6]
We developed HCOs that contain well-characterized enteric nerves or blood vessels, which is important for the investigation of colon diseases that involve these structures

Summary

Introduction

Even though mice have been used as a disease model in biomedical fields, recent studies have shown that mice do not reproduce the gene expression patterns that are induced by inflammatory disease in humans. These studies have provoked a renewed discussion of the validity of animal models in translational research [1,2]. Organoids are well-organized structures that include various cell types from different developmental origins. Organoids containing structures found in whole organs have been generated from pluripotent stem cells via the developmental stages by use of three-dimensional (3D) culture systems [3]. The enteric nervous system (ENS) is implicated in a broad range of intestinal and extra-intestinal disorders [7]

Methods

Results

Conclusion