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Biological techniques

Stomach growth in a dish

Nature volume 541, pages 160–161 (2017)Cite this article

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A protocol has been developed to grow structures that resemble the main part of the stomach in vitro from human embryonic stem cells — an advance that provides insights into stomach development. See Article p.182

During embryonic development, the human stomach forms two distinct anatomical regions1, the gastric corpus and the gastric antrum. Although each region follows a different developmental path, the signals governing these paths have been unclear. On page 182, McCracken et al.2 describe a step-by-step technique for steering human embryonic stem cells (ES cells), which have the potential to form almost any adult organ, to acquire the functional and structural features of the human gastric corpus. Thus, the authors recapitulate multiple aspects of human stomach development entirely in vitro, providing insights into the molecular basis of corpus formation.

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Figure 1: Growth of a gastric corpus.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. José B. Sáenz and Jason C. Mills are in the Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, USA.,

    José B. Sáenz & Jason C. Mills

  2. J.C.M. is also in the Departments of Developmental Biology and of Pathology and Immunology, Washington University School of Medicine.,

    Jason C. Mills

Authors
  1. José B. Sáenz
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  2. Jason C. Mills
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Correspondence to Jason C. Mills.

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Biological techniques: Kidney tissue grown from induced stem cells

Developmental neuroscience: Miniature human brains

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Sáenz, J., Mills, J. Stomach growth in a dish. Nature 541, 160–161 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature21110

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