The human stomachs being grown OUTSIDE the body: Mini ‘organs in a dish’ may help cure digestive diseases

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January 13, 2017January 13, 2017
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  • The tissue produces stomach acid and digestive enzymes just like real cells 
  • The research could help scientists to better understand stomach diseases
  • And important stomach drugs can now be studied in greater detail than before

Scientists have grown a working stomach ‘mini-organ’ in a lab in a move that will allow experts to understand human digestion in new ways.

The breakthrough could help researchers more accurately explore how certain diseases and drugs affect the human stomach.

The scientists used stem cells to craft the organs in an ongoing attempt to better understand how a baby’s stomach develops in the womb.

New stem cell research could help scientists to better understand stomach diseases, including gastric cancer, the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Pictured is  a piece of the human stomach created by the lab, as seen under a microscope

New stem cell research could help scientists to better understand stomach diseases, including gastric cancer, the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Pictured is a piece of the human stomach created by the lab, as seen under a microscope

WHAT ARE STEM CELLS?

Stem cells are a basic type of cell that can change into another type of more specialised cell through a process known as differentiation.

Think of stem cells as a fresh ball of clay that can be shaped and morphed into any cell in the body.

They grow in embryos as embryonic stem cells, used to help the rapidly growing baby form the millions of different cell types it needs to grow before birth.

In adults they are used as repair cells, used to replace those we lose through damage or ageing.

Stem cells have been the focus of lots of medical research in recent decades because they can be used to grow almost any type of cell.

Researchers from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center grew tissue from the stomach’s ‘fundus’ region in a lab.

This tissue was able to produce stomach acid and digestive enzymes just like real stomach cells.

Prior to this latest breakthrough, the team had grown cells from a different section of the stomach known as the ‘antrum’, which produces many of the stomach’s hormones.

‘Now that we can grow both antral-and fundic-type human gastric mini-organs, it’s possible to study how these human gastric tissues interact physiologically, respond differently to infection, injury and react to pharmacologic treatments,’ says co-author Dr Jim Wells, a director of the Pluripotent Stem Cell Facility at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.

‘Diseases of the stomach impact millions of people in the United States, and gastric cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide.’

Wells and his team have worked for years to successfully grow stomach tissue outside of the human body.