很快，你将有能力生长出自己的肠道。从人体肠道内取一小块样本，将其研碎并浸泡在一种消化酶溶液中，再用移液器吸取该混合物并将其放在聚合物支架上，然后把它移植进小鼠的腹腔。几周后，你将获得一小部分功能完备的人体肠道。

在过去的几年里，来自美国洛杉矶儿童医院的Tracy Grikscheit一直在研究如何生长出部分小肠。如果成功，这将为肠道衰竭的治疗提供一种新的方式。在被新生儿重症监护室收治的患者中，有2%的婴儿会受到肠道衰竭的影响。该病症患者5年内约有三分之一因此死亡。

Grikscheit团队的最新工作为上述研究目标的实现提供了迄今最有前途的迹象。在将装有人类肠道组织的支架植入小鼠体内4周后，Grikscheit和同事发现，移植组织生长出人类小肠具有的很多特征。它们包括充满黏液的杯状细胞以及释放肠胃激素的专门细胞。更重要的是，移植组织表现得像实际肠道一样：它们能将复合糖分解成简单的葡萄糖。相关成果发表在《美国生理学杂志》上。

Grikscheit表示，在小鼠身上开展的研究成为最终治疗婴儿患者的关键一步。“我们将不得不获取全部支撑数据。不过，坦率地说，我们已经开展了尽可能多的研究。”

下一步则将生长出工程化组织的更大样本。“每次你将事情的规模扩大，比如从小鼠扩展至人类婴儿大小，会需要考虑很多不同的情况。目前，我们正致力于此事。”Grikscheit说。

原文链接：Human and Mouse Tissue-Engineered Small Intestine Both Demonstrate Digestive And Absorptive Function

Objective Short bowel syndrome (SBS) is a devastating condition in which insufficient small intestinal surface area results in malnutrition and dependence on intravenous parenteral nutrition. There is an increasing incidence of SBS, particularly in premature babies and newborns with congenital intestinal anomalies. Tissue-engineered small intestine (TESI) offers a therapeutic alternative to the current standard treatment, intestinal transplantation, and has the potential to solve its biggest challenges: donor shortage and life-long immunosuppression. We have previously demonstrated that TESI can be generated from mouse and human small intestine and histologically replicates key components of native intestine. We hypothesized that TESI also recapitulates native small intestine function. Design Organoid units were generated from mouse or human donor intestine and implanted into genetically identical or immunodeficient host mice. After four weeks, TESI was harvested and either fixed and paraffin embedded, or immediately subjected to assays to illustrate function. Results We demonstrated that both mouse and human tissue-engineered small intestine grew into an appropriately polarized sphere of intact epithelium facing a lumen, contiguous with supporting mesenchyme, muscle, and stem/progenitor cells. The epithelium demonstrated major ultrastructural components including tight junctions and microvilli, transporters, and functional brush border and digestive enzymes. Conclusions This study demonstrates that tissue-engineered small intestine possesses a well-differentiated epithelium with intact ion transporters/channels, functional brush border enzymes, and similar ultrastructural components to native tissue including progenitor cells whether derived from mouse or human cells.(DOI: 10.1152/ajpgi.00111.2014)

作者：Christa Nicole Grant 点击：次