近日，日本国立东京医科齿科大学的研究人员在英国期刊《自然·医学》（Nature Medicine）上发表论文说，他们通过在体外培养能发育成各种大肠组织的干细胞并进行移植，成功修复了小鼠的大肠溃疡。
2012杭州干细胞春季 会 议
来自东京医科齿科大学的研究人员介绍说，他们采集了小鼠大肠内侧表面的上皮组织，然后利用特殊方法进行培养，成功地大量增殖了其中的干细胞。随后，他们在患有大肠溃疡的小鼠消化道末端注入干细胞。结果，这些干细胞只吸附在出现溃疡的大肠部位。一个月后，溃疡处组织获得再生，溃疡仿佛被盖住似地消失了。
研究小组还利用相同方法，对取自人体大肠组织的干细胞进行培养，也获得了成功。专家认为，如能进一步完善相关技术，将有望开发出治疗人体胃肠道疾病的新方法。（生物谷Bioon.com）
doi:10.1038/nm.2695
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Functional engraftment of colon epithelium expanded in vitro from a single adult Lgr5+ stem cell
Shiro Yui, Tetsuya Nakamura, Toshiro Sato, Yasuhiro Nemoto, Tomohiro Mizutani, Xiu Zheng, Shizuko Ichinose, Takashi Nagaishi, Ryuichi Okamoto, Kiichiro Tsuchiya, Hans Clevers & Mamoru Watanabe
Adult stem-cell therapy holds promise for the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases. Here we describe methods for long-term expansion of colonic stem cells positive for leucine-rich repeat containing G protein-coupled receptor 5 (Lgr5+ cells) in culture. To test the transplantability of these cells, we reintroduced cultured GFP+ colon organoids into superficially damaged mouse colon. The transplanted donor cells readily integrated into the mouse colon, covering the area that lacked epithelium as a result of the introduced damage in recipient mice. At 4 weeks after transplantation, the donor-derived cells constituted a single-layered epithelium, which formed self-renewing crypts that were functionally and histologically normal. Moreover, we observed long-term (>6 months) engraftment with transplantation of organoids derived from a single Lgr5+ colon stem cell after extensive in vitro expansion. These data show the feasibility of colon stem-cell therapy based on the in vitro expansion of a single adult colonic stem cell.
