Intestinal crypts reproducibly expand in culture

In vitro growth techniques for intestinal crypts and single intestinal stem cells have been recently described, but several questions of translational importance remain unaddressed. The purpose of this study was to: first, evaluate if intestinal crypts reproducibly expand in vitro; second, determine the impact of age and region of intestine on crypt growth in vitro; and third, determine the effects of cryopreservation on crypt growth in vitro

Intestinal stem cells remain viable after prolonged tissue storage

Intestinal stem cells (ISCs) are responsible for renewal of the epithelium both during normal homeostasis and following injury. As such they have significant therapeutic potential. However, it is unknown whether ISCs can survive tissue storage. We hypothesized that, although the majority of epithelial cells may die, ISCs would remain viable for at least 24 h at 4°C. To explore this hypothesis, jejuni of C57Bl6/J or Lgr5-LacZ mice were removed and either processed immediately or placed in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) at 4°C. Delayed isolations of epithelia were performed after 24, 30, or 48 h storage. At the light microscope level, despite extensive apoptosis of villus epithelial cells, small intestinal crypts remained morphologically intact through 30 h and ISCs were identifiable via Lgr5-LacZ positivity. Electron microscopy showed that ISCs retain high integrity through 24 h. When assessed by flow cytometry, ISCs were more resistant to degeneration than the rest of the epithelium, including neighboring Paneth cells, with higher viability across all time points. Culture of isolated crypts showed no loss of capacity to form complex enteroids after 24 h tissue storage, with efficiencies after 7 days of culture remaining above 80%. By 30 h storage, efficiencies declined but budding capability was retained. We conclude that, with delay in isolation, ISCs remain viable and retain their proliferative capacity. In contrast, the remainder of the epithelium, including the Paneth cells, exhibits degeneration and programmed cell death. If these findings are recapitulated with human tissue, storage at 4°C may offer a valuable temporal window for harvest of crypts or ISCs for therapeutic application

The impact of detergents on the tissue decellularization process: a ToF-SIMS study

Biologic scaffolds are derived from mammalian tissues, which must be decellularized to remove cellular antigens that would otherwise incite an adverse immune response. Although widely used clinically, the optimum balance between cell removal and the disruption of matrix architecture and surface ligand landscape remains a considerable challenge. Here we describe the use of time of flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy (ToF-SIMS) to provide sensitive, molecular specific, localized analysis of detergent decellularized biologic scaffolds. We detected residual detergent fragments, specifically from Triton X-100, sodium deoxycholate and sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) in decellularized scaffolds; increased SDS concentrations from 0.1% to 1.0% increased both the intensity of SDS fragments and adverse cell outcomes. We also identified cellular remnants, by detecting phosphate and phosphocholine ions in PAA and CHAPS decellularized scaffolds. The present study demonstrates ToF-SIMS is not only a powerful tool for characterization of biologic scaffold surface molecular functionality, but also enables sensitive assessment of decellularization efficacy

Intestinal crypts reproducibly expand in culture

BACKGROUND: In vitro growth techniques for intestinal crypts and single intestinal stem cells have been recently described, but several questions of translational importance remain unaddressed. The purpose of this study was to: first, evaluate if intestinal crypts reproducibly expand in vitro; second, determine the impact of age and region of intestine on crypt growth in vitro; and third, determine the effects of cryopreservation on crypt growth in vitro. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Crypts were harvested, from 5 cm of proximal, middle and distal small intestine of C57BL/6J mice aged 4wk, 6-8wk, 12-14wk, and 18-20wk (n = 4-6 animals), and cultured. For each region, we determined the efficiency of crypts forming enterospheres (Day 1), and progressing to enteroids (Day 7). Subsequently, enteroids were passaged and cryopreserved to determine if growth was changed by these manipulations. RESULTS: 43-99% of intestinal crypts formed enterospheres, with higher efficiency in proximal small intestine and in younger mice. 25-64% of enterospheres progressed to budding enteroids within 7 days. In vitro expansion was greater in proximal enteroids. This expansion continued in a logarithmic fashion, with ~97% replating efficiency of isolated enteroid crypt buds. Following cryopreservation, ~90% of enteroids recovered normal proliferative capacity. CONCLUSIONS: Intestinal crypt culture is efficient and significantly expands intestinal tissue in a reproducible manner. Regional and age growth differences may reflect distinct stem cell characteristics or differences in support cells. The ability to culture and expand intestinal tissue in vitro provides a potential translational approach toward understanding and treating patients with short bowel syndrome

Intestinal stem cells remain viable after prolonged tissue storage

Intestinal stem cells (ISCs) are responsible for renewal of the epithelium both during normal homeostasis and following injury. As such they have significant therapeutic potential. However, it is unknown whether ISCs can survive tissue storage. We hypothesized that, although the majority of epithelial cells may die, ISCs would remain viable for at least 24 h at 4°C. To explore this hypothesis, jejuni of C57Bl6/J or Lgr5-LacZ mice were removed and either processed immediately or placed in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) at 4°C. Delayed isolations of epithelia were performed after 24, 30, or 48 h storage. At the light microscope level, despite extensive apoptosis of villus epithelial cells, small intestinal crypts remained morphologically intact through 30 h and ISCs were identifiable via Lgr5-LacZ positivity. Electron microscopy showed that ISCs retain high integrity through 24 h. When assessed by flow cytometry, ISCs were more resistant to degeneration than the rest of the epithelium, including neighboring Paneth cells, with higher viability across all time points. Culture of isolated crypts showed no loss of capacity to form complex enteroids after 24 h tissue storage, with efficiencies after 7 days of culture remaining above 80%. By 30 h storage, efficiencies declined but budding capability was retained. We conclude that, with delay in isolation, ISCs remain viable and retain their proliferative capacity. In contrast, the remainder of the epithelium, including the Paneth cells, exhibits degeneration and programmed cell death. If these findings are recapitulated with human tissue, storage at 4°C may offer a valuable temporal window for harvest of crypts or ISCs for therapeutic application