American scientists have successfully cultivated fully functional human intestinal tissues in mice. This research breakthrough was obtained by pediatric surgeons at Los Angeles Children's Hospital, which will be able to free thousands of patients with intestinal diseases from pain in the future. In the study, they implanted human cells into mice, and finally succeeded in "planting" the small intestine in the mice. The function of this small intestine is similar to the real small intestine. The findings were published in the American Journal of Physiology: Gastrointestinal Tract and Liver.
The doctors at Los Angeles Children's Hospital hope that their research results can help treat a series of digestive diseases and improve the survival rate of diseases such as short bowel syndrome. Short bowel syndrome is a terrible disease, one third of young patients die within 5 years. The study was led by Dr. Tracy Glickschet from the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles.
Previous research conducted by the Los Angeles Children’s Hospital found that the so-called “tissue engineered small intestine” can be cultivated by implanting donated human tissue into mice. In the initial study, the small intestine they cultivated had limited function. The findings were published in the 2011 biomedical journal "Tissue Engineering A". As part of the new research, the researchers created a tissue-engineered small intestine with the same key functions as the human small intestine, such as the mucosal lining that can be seen in the fully developed small intestine. Test results show that the tissue engineered small intestine can break down sugar into glucose and secrete intestinal hormones.
The reason for choosing mice is that the tissue-engineered small intestine cultivated in mice has a high degree of similarity with the tissue-engineered small intestine cultivated with human cells. For example, both possess important "building blocks" such as stem cells and progenitor cells. Stem cells and progenitor cells can regenerate the intestine and act as a substitute for living tissue. During the research process, scientists extracted cells from human small intestine tissue and soaked them in a digestive enzyme solution. This solution is loaded into so-called polymer scaffolds-used to help cells and tissues develop-and then implanted in mice. After 4 weeks, they bred a tissue-engineered small intestine and tested it.
Scientists found in the test that the tissue engineered small intestine can break down sugar into glucose, and the internal cells also have high similarities with other specific cells. These specific cells can help to form a fully functional organ, allowing the body to have a healthy intestine. Dr. Glickschetter said: "We have proven with facts that we can grow the small intestine with more complex tissue functions than other stem cell or progenitor cell models currently used to study intestinal regeneration and diseases. Because of the cultivation of human cells, they have Complete function. Proving that this tissue-engineered small intestine has complete functions is an important milestone and means that we have taken an important step forward on the road of helping patients with intestinal diseases."
The successful cultivation of
functional tissue engineering small intestine marks that surgeons are closer to the dream of "using regenerative medicine technology to treat patients". The tissue engineered small intestine can be used to treat short bowel syndrome. This disease can cause intestinal failure, especially in premature babies and newborns with congenital intestinal problems. In the future, the tissue engineered small intestine can also be used for intestinal transplantation to solve the problem of shortage of donated organs. If there is not enough intestinal length, babies can only rely on intravenous nutrition, which can cause liver damage. According to statistics, about 24 of every 100,000 live births have intestinal failure, and nearly one-third of the patients die within 5 years.