Success of Lab-Grown Colons Could Transform Future Crohn's and Colitis Research

After some time following the transplant into the mouse models, the team of researchers reported that the human colonic organoids began to assume the structure, form, cell properties, and molecular properties of human colons.

One of the study's first authors, Munera, stated that there were several ways in which these versions of human colon organoids could be analyzed to research diseases and conditions of the colon.

Munera said that by exposing human colonic organoids to certain inflammatory triggers, researchers can discover the exact manner in which supporting cells and the lining of the cells within the colon work together in response to the inflammation. Munera believes that this function could help researchers gain a better understanding of how to treat patients who have Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis. Munera also believes the organoids might eventually be used to provide an accurate model of the human microbiome both when healthy and when under diseased conditions due the fact that the microbiome (or the organisms that reside within the guts) are the most prevalent in the colon.