Turn stem cells into cells of the intestine, pancreas

Thanks to the tremendous progress in stem cell technology, pancreatic and intestinal cells can now be created in the laboratory.

The so-called Edmonton Protocol is used to treat diabetes. (Internet photo)

Stem cells can be turned into pancreatic cells, which are essential for treating diabetes, as well as forming complex layers in intestinal cells.

In a study, Georgetown University experts in Washington (USA) turned immature sperm cells, or human sperm cells, into pancreatic cell walls.

Specifically, expert Ian Gallicano and colleagues used almighty stem cells, made from sperm cells, and nourished these cells in the laboratory with specialized chemicals to turn them into Pancreatic beta cells, which are responsible for insulin production.

When transplanted into diabetic mice, these cells produce insulin, acting as pancreatic beta cells that the body mistakenly destroys in the case of type 1 diabetes, Reuters quoted. Mr. Gallicano in a recent conference on Cell Biology in American Society in Philadelphia.

Currently, children and young people with type 1 diabetes must receive insulin for life. Some people can be treated with a procedure called Edmonton Protocol , whereby pancreatic cells will be transplanted from a donor organ in the dead.

However, as with many other transplant cases, the supply is too few to meet the demand, and if the cells are not compatible well, the patient may fall into a grafting organ against the host. .

Gallicano said the advantage of using stem cells to create pancreatic cells is that male patients can use their own cells as a transplant source , and according to the expert, perhaps the same approach also done in women.

" While the cells tested came from human testes, this study is not exclusively for men ," said Georgetown University team scientists. used for oocyte in women.

In another study, James Wells and colleagues at Cincinnati Children's Hospital in Ohio (USA) turned two different types of stem cells into complex layers of intestinal cells.

They simultaneously use human embryonic and almighty stem cells to turn them into organoid (a cell organ), a mass of intestinal cells made from different layers of many types of cells to make the intestine including muscle cells, cells inside the intestines and types that produce some of the most important compounds for the body.

These cell organs can be used to study intestinal diseases such as necrotizing enterocolitis, inflammatory bowel disorders and short bowel syndrome. That's not including the ability to cure these diseases in the near future, according to Wells and his colleagues.