Intestine grown from stem cells for the first time

摘要

Human intestinal tissue has been made in the lab for the first time from stem cells. The achievement is a big step towards replacing diseased gut tissue with fresh material in people with intestinal conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease and Crohn's disease. Measuring a few millimetres across, the pieces of intestinal tissue made by the month-long process contain all the cells and features found in normal gut tissue, and grow by the same route as in embryos. "Our organoids are not quite the shape of the intestine, but like segments of it," says team leader James Wells of the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in Ohio.