Saturday, November 1, 2014

Scientists Grow Human Stomachs in Lab Dishes

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Fluorescently labeled stomach tissue


     On Wednesday October 29, 2014 a group of researches announced the creation of a lab-grown small intestines derived from the use of stem cells.  The purpose of this creation is the ability to study gastrointestinal diseases such as stomach ulcers and stomach cancers that cannot be understood in depth previously.  Typical laboratory animals such as flies and mice have a different intestinal track and stomach in comparison to humans. Furthemore, the creation of this pea-sized stomach tissue allows researchers to get a closer look at these stomach maladies.   

     The type of stem cells used are called Pluripotent stem cells, and can ultimately turn into any cell type in the human body (i.e.- the digestive organ).  Additionally, researchers announced that they have produced the perfect recipe needed to coax both type of stem cells that have all the properties of a functional stomach, thus creating this fluorescently labeled, pea-size stomach tissue.  Ultimately, the bacterium Helicobacter Pylori, a bacterium that are blamed for many stomach ulcers and stomach cancers was exposed to the "mini stomachs" where molecular and cellular changes occurred to the stomach tissue.

     I found this article to be quite interesting because my family has been affected by both stomach cancers as well as ulcertive colitis.  I believe these findings can be extremly beneficial in the prevention of these diseases.

Main article: http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2014/10/scientists-grow-tiny-human-stomachs-lab-dishes

Related Readings: http://www.livescience.com/48519-miniature-human-stomachs.html


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