Intestinal stem cell transplantation

Organoid technologies to expand intestinal epithelial cells are gaining increasing attention as a useful tool to investigate many aspects of intestinal epithelial biology and pathology. One important application of organoid systems would be to use intestinal epithelial cells expanded in culture for following transplantation experiments. In this article, we present a brief overview of the studies that have succeeded in generating new epithelial tissues in the surface of native intestines in mice by organoid transplantation. We also discuss possible applications of this experimental approach in basic research on the intestinal epithelium as well as in regenerative medicine for various types of intestinal diseases in humans.