Scientists build 'mini-stomachs' in lab

James Wells. Photo: Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Centre

Scientists using stem cells say they have built the world's first "mini-stomachs" - tiny clusters of human gastric tissue that could spur research into cancer, ulcers and diabetes.

The lab-dish tissue, called gastric organoids, comprises buds of cells that are "a miniature version of the stomach", the researchers said.

They were made from pluripotent stem cells that were coaxed into developing into gastric cells, according to the study, published in the journal Nature.

Pluripotent stem cells have excited huge interest as a dreamed-of source for transplant tissue grown in a lab, but the challenge of getting cells to become cells for specific organs has caused problems.

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The researchers identified the chemical steps that occur during embryonic development, then replicated them in a Petri dish so that pluripotent stem cells developed into endoderm cells - the building blocks of the respiratory and gastro-intestinal tracts.

Still at a preliminary stage, the organoids are a long way from being replacement tissue or a fully-fledged stomach.

However, early tests on mice suggest they could one day be a "patch" for holes caused by peptic ulcers.

The organoids also mark an important step forward in how to tease stem cells into becoming 3-D structure, the scientists said.

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Scientists build 'mini-stomachs' in lab