The miniature stomachs could pave the way to the development of better treatments for a wide variety of conditions

Oct 30, 2014 10:16 GMT  ·  By
Scientists claim to have grown miniature stomachs in laboratory conditions
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   Scientists claim to have grown miniature stomachs in laboratory conditions

A paper published in yesterday's issue of the journal Nature documents the use of stem cells to grow teeny tiny human stomachs in laboratory conditions.

The experiments, carried out by specialists working with the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in the US, are hailed as a world first.

Besides, the breakthrough is said to be the first step towards the development of better treatments for a wide variety of conditions that affect this central organ and that threaten the life of thousands of people worldwide.

Thus, the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center specialists say that their lab-made stomachs can not only serve to better understand the development of this organ, but also shine new light on health trouble like ulcers and cancer.

Using stem cells to grow miniature stomachs

Writing in the journal Nature, the scientists behind this series of experiments explain that, although referred to as miniature stomachs, the living structures that they engineered using human stem cells are basically lumps of tissue.

Despite being about the size of a run-of-the-mill sesame seed, these lumps parallel the anatomy of the human stomach. What's more, they can serve as a home to gut bacteria naturally occurring in the human body, the researchers detail.

To grow these teeny tiny stomachs, the scientists started by collecting human stem cells and placing them in a carefully controlled environment, Nature informs. In a nutshell, they exposed them to conditions mimicking those in the womb.

By exposing the stem cells to specific signals from proteins and hormones, the researchers compelled them to develop into so-called gastric organoids whose makeup and inner workings closely resembled that of a real human stomach.

All in all, it took the scientists merely 34 days to grow these miniature stomachs. Commenting on the success in simulating womb conditions to grow teeny tiny organs in the lab, researcher Calvin Kuo pointed out that “To be able to recapitulate that in a dish is quite a technical achievement.”

Potential uses for these lab-grown stomachs

As mentioned, it is expected that these laboratory-made gastric organoids will help scientists reach a better understanding of conditions such as ulcer and cancer, maybe even pave the way for better treatment options for these diseases.

What's interesting is that the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center researchers behind these experiments did not settle for simply creating replicas of the human stomach in the lab. On the contrary, they also infected them with a bacterium dubbed Helicobacter pylori and then monitored them to see how they responded to it.

It is understood that, shortly after being infected with said bacterium, the cells forming the lumps of living tissue started dividing twice as fast as they did before exposure. As well as this, the scientists documented the activation of a gene known to cause tumors when going haywire.

Although far from being actual organs, the lab-made miniature stomachs responded to the Helicobacter pylori bacterium much like human stomachs infected with it do. This is all the more important given the fact that this bacterium is to blame for several stomach trouble.

As detailed in the journal Nature, “Gastric diseases, including peptic ulcer disease and gastric cancer, affect 10% of the world’s population and are largely due to chronic Helicobacter pylori infection.”

Consequently, the  Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center specialists argue that the outcome of these experiments just goes to show that their organoids can it fact help shed new light on ulcers and stomach cancer.

Image shows part of a lab-made miniature stomach
Image shows part of a lab-made miniature stomach

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Scientists claim to have grown miniature stomachs in laboratory conditions
Image shows part of a lab-made miniature stomach
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