The findings pave the way for patient-specific regenerative therapies for inflammatory bowel diseases such as ulcerative colitis.
All tissues in our body contain specialised stem cells, which are responsible for the lifelong maintenance of the individual tissue and organ. Stem cells found in adults are restricted to their tissue of origin, for example, stem cells found in the gut will be able to contribute to the replenishment of the gut whereas stem cells in the skin will only contribute to maintenance of the skin.
The team first looked at developing intestinal tissue in an embryo and found a population of stem cells that were quite different to the adult stem cells that have been described in the gut. The cells were very actively dividing and could be grown in the laboratory over a long period without becoming specialised into the adult counterpart. Under the correct growth conditions, however, the team could induce the cells to form mature intestinal tissue.
When the team transplanted these cells into mice with a form of inflammatory bowel disease, within three hours the stem cells had attached to the damaged areas of the mouse intestine and integrated with the gut cells to repair the damage.
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Image: Histopathological image of the active stage of ulcerative colitis. Endoscopic biopsy. Hematoxylin & eosin stain.
Credit: KGH
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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