Dr Christen Rune Stensvold is a Senior Scientist and Public Health Microbiologist with specialty in parasitology. He has a Bachelor degree in Medical Sciences, an MSc in Parasitology, and a PhD in Health Sciences. He has been based at Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, since 2004. Since 2006, he has authored/co-authored more than 80 articles in international, peer-reviewed scientific journals. In 2013, he was awarded the Fritz Kauffmann Prize for his contribution to clinical microbiology in Denmark. For many years, he has been pursuing the role of common intestinal micro-eukaryotes in human health and disease. Follow Rune on Twitter @Eukaryotes.
From July 9–11, the UEG Basic Science Course 'IBD: Models and Methods' took place in the Netherlands. A total of 41 delegates had the opportunity to engage in lectures on models of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)—mouse, rat and organoid cultures. Delegates also participated in hands-on training in the laboratory, which involved a 2D in vitro barrier function model and a 3D in vitro gut model amongst other things. Here, to follow this up, we highlight a newly published method for 3D-pattern profiling of mouse and human phenotypes of intestinal inflammation and give a snapshot of some of the current developments within gut experimental models.
IBD is a complex of diseases, mainly involving Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, which differ in terms of intestinal involvement and other specific macroscopic and microscopic features. The distinction between macroscopic intestinal disease phenotypes has traditionally relied on macroscopic assessment of lesions by trained pathologists, along with histological characterisation of inflammatory processes using 2D sections from which inflammatory cell counts are calculated by analysis of a very limited amount of tissue.
Rodriguez-Palacios et al. recently took a microscopic approach to comprehensively examining the integrity of the entire intestinal tract, with a view to characterising disease biology based on 3D-structural patterns.1 Realising that the different types of IBD are often histologically indistinguishable on the basis of mucosal biopsy samples and discovering that stereomicroscopy (SM) has great potential as a routine diagnostic tool for real-time topographical analysis of the gastrointestinal tract at the villous level, this team developed a method using SM to rapidly profile the entire intestinal topography (3D-structure patterns) in mouse models of colitis/ileitis and human IBD.
After creating a comprehensive SM catalogue of histologically and scanning electron microscopy (SEM)-validated 3D-intestinal abnormalities (comprising 4,700 mice, 416 inbred strains, and various mouse models of acute/chronic intestinal inflammation and infection), they designed the ‘3D-SM Assessment and Pattern Profiling (3D-SMAPgut)’ system and a registration form to capture qualitative and quantitative data—cm by cm—in order to determine lesion co-occurrence and spatial distribution patterns.
Introducing the concept of ‘stereroenterotypes’, which are subclusters of 3D-structure-patterns of IBD pathology that are histologically indistinguishable, the authors found that spontaneous ileitis led to the ‘cobblestone’ steroenterotype in some mouse lines, while the ‘villous mini-aggregation’ stereoenterotype was identified in others. This finding suggests that host genetics drive unique and divergent inflammatory 3D-structural patterns in the gut. To this end, on the basis of the 3D-stereoenterotype, SM correctly predicted with 100% accuracy whether a mouse ileum belonged to SAMP mice or TNFARE mice (strains that have different genetic backgrounds but that both develop spontaneous ileitis) or to a control (ileitis-free) strain.
The authors believe that the use of SM will improve our understanding of human IBD by facilitating SM-target analysis of intestinal specimens from animals and IBD patients. This analysis is critical to intestinal phenotyping of genetically diverse mouse and human populations and for preclinical drug testing.
The use of animal models has been indispensable in IBD research. These models can be chemically induced, genetically engineered, immunologically mediated or spontaneous. There are also other types of animal models, and the choice of which model to use relies on the specific hypothesis/question that is being addressed.2 The panel of mouse colitis models is vast;3 the oxazolone colitis model in particular appears relevant for studying human ulcerative colitis due to its close resemblance not only with respect to morphology, but also with respect to immunopathogenesis. Another model, the widely applied DSS colitis model, has proven useful for studies on innate immune mechanisms involved in the development of intestinal inflammation. This model has also been used to study the development of colon cancer in relation to colonic inflammation, such as that occurring in patients with long-standing ulcerative colitis.
However, mouse models are intrinsically low throughput and sometimes do not adequately mimic human physiology.3,4 The development of ‘organoids’,4-6 including ‘enteroids’ and ‘colonoids’, by ex vivo culture of intestinal epithelial cells may soon enable a marked reduction in the animals used for experimental purposes and allow for more precise and targeted studies of human intestinal disease phenotypes. Indeed, it appears that there is immense potential for this culture system in gastrointestinal research, particularly to model diseases such as graft-versus-host-disease and IBD.7 As an example, Rodansky et al. have taken advantage of advances in stem-cell-derived human intestinal organoids by developing a new human model of fibrosis in Crohn’s disease.8
To find out more on the use of intestinal and hepatic organoids, please sign in to myUEG and search the UEG Education Library! To learn more about general advances in, and the outlook for, organoid technologies in terms of disease modelling, I’d suggest looking up the 2014 review by Lancaster and Knoblich.9
References
- Rodriguez-Palacios A, et al. Stereomicroscopic 3D-pattern profiling of murine and human intestinal inflammation reveals unique structural phenotypes. Nat Commun 2015; 6: 7577 doi: 10.1038/ncomms8577. http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/150708/ncomms8577/full/ncomms8577.html
- Pizarro T. Intestinal fibrosis (IBD) including models. Presentation in the "GI organ-specific fibrosis" session at UEGF Teaching Activity on Basic Science 2011.
- Kiesler P, et al. Experimental models of inflammatory bowel diseases. Cell Mol Gastroenterol Hepatol 2015; 1: 154–170. http://cmghjournal.org/article/S2352-345X%2815%2900040-5/abstract
- Wells JM, and Spence JR. How to make an intestine. Development 2014; 141: 752–760. http://dev.biologists.org/content/141/4/752.long
- Sato T, et al. Long-term expansion of epithelial organoids from human colon, adenoma, adenocarcinoma, and Battett’s epithelium. Gastroenterology 2011; 141: 1762–1772. http://www.gastrojournal.org/article/S0016-5085%2811%2901108-5/abstract
- Watson CL, et al. An in vivo model of human small intestine using pluripotent stem cells. Nat Med 2014; 20: 1310–1314. http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v20/n11/full/nm.3737.html
- Hartman KG, et al. Modeling inflammation and oxidative stress in gastrointestinal disease development using novel organotypic culture systems. Stem Cell Res Ther 2013; 4 Suppl. 1: S5. http://www.stemcellres.com/content/4/S1/S5
- Rodansky ES, et al. Intestinal organoids: a model of intestinal fibrosis for evaluating anti-fibrotic drugs. Exp Mol Pathol 2015; 98: 346–351. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0014480015000684
- Lancaster MA and Knoblich JA. Organogenesis in a dish: modelling development and disease using organoid technologies. Science 2014; 345: 1247125. http://www.sciencemag.org/content/345/6194/1247125.long
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