Scientists grow a miniature human esophagus in the laboratory

At first, scientists successfully cultivated oesophageal organoids – miniature and functional versions of the human food tube – using stem cells, thus paving the way for new ways to study and test drugs against intestinal disorders.

The study, published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, shows how human esophageal tissue has been fully developed from pluripotent stem cells (PSCs), which can form any type of tissue in the body. The work of researchers at the Cincinnati Children's Center for stem cell and organoid medicine (CuSTOM) in the United States could lead to personalized diagnostic methods and focus in part on the development of regenerative tissue therapies for treatment or care gastrointestinal disorders.

"The disorders of the esophagus and trachea are quite common among people whose organoid patterns of the human esophagus could be very beneficial," said Jim Wells, scientific manager at CuSTOM. "In addition to being a new model for studying congenital anomalies such as esophageal atresia, organelles can be used to study diseases such as eosinophilic esophagitis and metaplasia." Barrett,

The esophagus is a muscular tube that puts food from the mouth to the stomach. The organ may be affected by congenital diseases, such as oesophageal atresia – a narrowing or malformation of the esophagus caused by genetic mutations. Many diseases can afflict people later in life. Some include esophageal cancer, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) or a rare condition called achalasia – a condition that affects the muscles of the lower esophagus and prevents contraction of the organ and the passage of food.

All conditions require better treatments, the researchers said. This requires a more accurate understanding of the genetic and biochemical mechanisms underlying their cause – a need bridged by the ability to generate and study robust, functional, and genetically compatible models of human esophageal tissue that can be cultured from their own cells. A person.

After successfully producing fully formed human esophageal organoids – which reached a length of about 300 to 800 micrometers in about two months – transgenic tissues were compared biochemically to oesophageal tissues from biopsies of patients. These tests showed that the transgenic tissues and biopsies had a surprisingly similar composition, according to the researchers.