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Generation of stomach tissue from mouse embryonic stem cells

Nature Cell Biology volume 17, pages 984–993 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

Successful pluripotent stem cell differentiation methods have been developed for several endoderm-derived cells, including hepatocytes, β-cells and intestinal cells. However, stomach lineage commitment from pluripotent stem cells has remained a challenge, and only antrum specification has been demonstrated. We established a method for stomach differentiation from embryonic stem cells by inducing mesenchymal Barx1, an essential gene for in vivo stomach specification from gut endoderm. Barx1-inducing culture conditions generated stomach primordium-like spheroids, which differentiated into mature stomach tissue cells in both the corpus and antrum by three-dimensional culture. This embryonic stem cell-derived stomach tissue (e-ST) shared a similar gene expression profile with adult stomach, and secreted pepsinogen as well as gastric acid. Furthermore, TGFA overexpression in e-ST caused hypertrophic mucus and gastric anacidity, which mimicked Ménétrier disease in vitro. Thus, in vitro stomach tissue derived from pluripotent stem cells mimics in vivo development and can be used for stomach disease models.

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Figure 1: Gut-like structure differentiates into intestinal lineage in serum-free default culture condition.
Figure 2: SHH and DKK1 specify stomach lineage fate in a dose-dependent manner, and induce stomach primordium-like spheroid formation.
Figure 3: Maturation of stomach primordium-like spheroids into stomach tissues by 3D culture.
Figure 4: Specific gene expression profile of e-ST.
Figure 5: Further differentiation of e-ST with functionally and structurally mature corpus cell types in vitro.
Figure 6: Further differentiation of e-ST with other mature gastric cell types in vitro.

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Acknowledgements

We thank E. Kobayashi for kindly providing technical help with electron microscopy. This work was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS; No. 21241048, M.A. and A.K.) and for JSPS Fellows (T.-a.K.N.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8577, Japan

    Taka-aki K. Noguchi, Mari Sekine, Pi-Chao Wang & Akira Kurisaki

  2. Research Center for Stem Cell Engineering, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Ibaraki 305-8562, Japan

    Naoto Ninomiya, Makoto Asashima & Akira Kurisaki

  3. Department of Anatomy, Saitama Medical University, Saitama 350-0495, Japan

    Shinji Komazaki

  4. Life Science Center of Tsukuba Advanced Research Alliance, The University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8577, Japan

    Makoto Asashima

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  1. Taka-aki K. Noguchi
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Contributions

T.-a.K.N. designed and conducted most of the experiments and data analyses with assistance from N.N. and M.S. T.-a.K.N. and A.K. wrote the manuscript. S.K. conducted electron microscopy analysis. P.-C.W., M.A. and A.K. supervised and supported the project.

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Correspondence to Taka-aki K. Noguchi or Akira Kurisaki.

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Integrated supplementary information

Supplementary Figure 3 Expression analysis of stomach markers in gut-like structure.

(a) Differentiation scheme of gut-like structure formation from embryonic stem cells. (b) RT-PCR of early gut and adult stomach markers. ES (ES cells), day 16 (gut-like structure at day 16), E13.5 (E13.5 stomach), Adult (adult stomach). Molecular size were 191 bp (Barx1), 215 bp (Cdx2), 268 bp (Sox2), 171 bp (Gapdh), 208 bp (Atp4b), 161 bp (Pgc), 155 bp (Muc5ac), and 142 bp (Gast). (c–e) Section in situ hybridization analysis of EpCAM (c), Barx1 (d), and Sox2 (e). Scale bar is 200 μm. For Supplementary Fig. 1b–e are representative data. Details of the reproducibility are summarised in Methods section.

Supplementary Figure 4 FGF- and SHH-based medium alter the stem/progenitor state and differentiation state in e-ST.

(a) Differentiation scheme of e-St with FGF-and SHH-based medium. (b) The heat map showed that FGF-based medium induced stem cell- and progenitor-related genes. In contrast, the SHH-based medium induced differentiated cell-related genes. e-ST (cultured in the FGF-based medium at day 42), e-ST Differentiation (e-ST cultured in the FGF-based medium until day 42, and then changed to the SHH-based medium until day 46). The data are not representative, and generated from single microarray analysis.

Supplementary Figure 5 Generation and differentiation of a Tet-inducible ES cell line.

(a) Tetracycline (Tc)-inactivated TGFA overexpression system. The Tc-regulatable transactivator (rTA) is constitutively expressed from the ROSA26 promoter. In the presence of Tc, rTA is inactivated. Removal of Tc induces rTA-dependent activation of TGFA, as well as Venus expression. (b) Differentiation of Tc-inactivated ES cells with or without Tc. The embryoid body (EB) differentiated into small spheroids at day 11, day 19, and day 28, and did not express Venus. Culture of three-dimensional spheroids was initiated by removing Tc; after 2 days, the three-dimensional spheroids expressed Venus. FGF-based (FGF-based medium). Each scale bar represents 100–500 μm. For Supplementary Fig. 3b are representative data. Details of the reproducibility are summarised in Methods section.

Supplementary Figure 6 TGFA overexpression induced a Ménétrier disease-like state in e-ST in vitro cultures.

(a) Phase-contrast and fluorescence images of ES cells with or without Tet. The scale bar represents 100 μm. (b) qPCR of human TGFA in ES cells and e-ST cultured with or without Tet. Expression was normalised to Gapdh. Grey bar: Knock-in ES cells, Black bar: e-ST differentiated from Knock-in ES cells at day 42. N.D., not detected. n = 3; biological independent repeats. Error bars are s.e.m. (c) Differentiation scheme of TGFA-inducible e-ST. (d,e) Immunofluorescence staining of the epithelium and mesenchymal layer of e-ST. Immunofluorescence staining of EpCAM and Desmin in e-ST on day 54 with or without Tet at lower magnification (d). Scale bar represents 200 μm. Arrowheads indicate the hypertrophic epithelia. Higher magnification of the white outlined area is shown in (e). Immunofluorescence staining of EpCAM, Venus: TGFA, and Muc5ac in e-ST on day 54 without Tet (e). Scale bar represents 30 μm. (f–h) Immunofluorescence staining of marker proteins of pit cells, parietal cells, and proliferative cells in e-ST cultured with or without Tet. Muc5ac+ pit cells (Tet− day 54, Tet+ day 42) (g), H+/K+ ATPase+ parietal cells at day 42 (h), and Ki67+proliferative cells on day 42 (i) in e-ST cultured with or without Tet. Scale bar are 30 μm. (i–k) Quantification of EpCAM+ epithelial layers in Tet+ and Tet− e-ST. Muc5ac+ pit cells (j), H+/K+ ATPase+ parietal cell % (k), and Ki67+ cell % (l). Statistical analyses were performed by comparing Tet+ with Tet−. Significant differences between Tet+ and Tet− are shown; t-test, ∗, p < 0.05,∗∗, p < 0.01, Pit cells; p = 0.01655, Parietal cells; p = 0.00427, Ki67+ cells; p = 0.01582, n = 3; biologically independent samples. Error bars are s.e.m. (l) Measurement of acid secretion from Tet+ and Tet− e-ST cultures at day 54. The pH change measured every hour (0, 1, 2, 3 h). His (Histamine). n = 3; biologically independent samples. Error bars are s.e.m. For Supplementary Fig. 4a, d–h are representative images. Details of the reproducibility and statistical analyses are summarised in Supplementary Table 3 and Methods section.

Supplementary Figure 7 TGFA-overexpression in e-ST induced cyst-like structure in hypertrophic epithelium in e-ST.

(a) H&E staining of e-ST with Tet (Tet+). (b–d) H&E staining of e-ST without Tet (Tet−). Higher magnification of the black outlined area is shown in (c,d). Each arrowhead shows cyst-like structure. Scale bars are 200 μm (a,b), and 100 μm (c,d). For Supplementary Fig. 5a–d are representative data. Details of the reproducibility are summarised in Methods section.

Supplementary Figure 8 Un-spliced electrophoresis pictures.

Un-spliced electrophoresis pictures are summarised.

Supplementary Table 1 Primers used for qPCR and RT-PCR.
Full size table
Supplementary Table 2 Primary and Secondary antibodies for immunofluorescence staining.
Full size table

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

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Supplementary Table 3

Supplementary Information (XLSX 31 kb)

Peristalsis of stomach primordium-like structure.

Stomach primordium-like structure (day 19) differentiated from ES cells shows peristalsis. (AVI 4059 kb)

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Noguchi, Ta., Ninomiya, N., Sekine, M. et al. Generation of stomach tissue from mouse embryonic stem cells. Nat Cell Biol 17, 984–993 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncb3200

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