Junichi Takahashi grows suspension HIOs in the rotational bioreactor. Credit: Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, TMDU
Key Points:
- Researchers discover that spheroids grown in suspension have the ability to mature into human intestinal organoids.
- The new approach enables researchers to grow intestinal mini-organs more easily and efficiently in the lab.
- This exciting discovery holds immense promise for regenerative medicine.
Growing human body parts in the lab might conjure up images from a sci-fi novel, but growing miniature organ-like tissues in the lab is already within our reach. Researchers from Japan have developed a new approach that enables intestinal mini-organs to be grown more efficiently and at a faster rate inside a lab. This holds immense promise for regenerative medicine.
In a study published in Cell Reports Methods, researchers from Tokyo Medical and Dental University revealed that applying a few specialized lab techniques yields intestine-like tissues of predictable size and composition.
Organoids are organ-like balls of cells that are grown in the lab from spheroids of human cells and are used for studying organ function in a lab setting. They are also promising tools in the field of regenerative medicine.
Established methods for growing human intestinal organoids from induced pluripotent stem cells already exist, however, these techniques are challenging to perform and can result in deformed and unhealthy spheroids over time.
The researchers decided to explore the use of cell culture plates made with an ultra-low attachment polymer to encourage the cells to detach and grow in suspension. They also tested the effects of growing the resulting spheroids in a specialized incubator that keeps the growth medium constantly flowing to improve the health of the cells.
“Using our technique, we were able to grow spheroids of a predictable, consistent size that could be modified by modulating the number of cells seeded into the plates,” said Tomohiro Mizutani, corresponding author of the study. “Furthermore, transferring the spheroids to a bioreactor allowed them to grow even larger, into healthy HIOs.”
Researchers are hopeful the new approach can be easily adapted to create more complex intestinal tissue—making it invaluable for future regenerative medicine applications.