MELBOURNE, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- Researchers in Australia have grown live models of pediatric patients' digestive systems, or "mini guts," to investigate solutions for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Using live tissue and bacteria from the intestine to create miniature 3D "organoid" models, researchers have been able to test how and where the specific bacteria in a patient's digestive system can affect tissue and cause inflammation, according to a statement released Monday by Australia's Monash University.
The study, published in Scientific Reports, is the first to develop an organoid model incorporating both the intestinal lining and its bacteria, and pioneers the technology to inject bacteria into the intestinal organoids to study their impact on inflammation, the statement said.
The gut microbiome is unique to each person, which means an IBD treatment that works for one person may not work for another. The "mini guts" could help move IBD treatment beyond a "one-size-fits-all" approach, said lead researcher Professor Helen Abud from the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute.
"By creating living replicas of a patient's intestinal lining, we can observe how this critical barrier protects the body from harmful gut contents, and how it heals or breaks down when exposed to different bacteria," Abud said.
Senior researcher Adjunct Associate Professor Edward Giles at Monash University and the Hudson Institute of Medical Research said the method provides a way to test whether healing of the intestinal barrier can be promoted or even find "protective" bacteria that could become treatments themselves.
First author Dr Eva Chan at the Hudson Institute of Medical Research said building a biobank of matched organoids and bacterial collections from individual patients could lay the groundwork for testing and tailoring interventions in the lab before they reach patients. ■
