Enteric nervous system: Modelling and treating Hirschsprung disease: stem cells to the rescue?

Embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells are excellent models for disease research because of their ability to self-renew and differentiate into most cell types. Somatic cells from a patient are isolated and reprogrammed into induced pluripotent stem cells or iPSCs. These iPSCs are later differentiated into the desired cell type, which mirrors the diseased cell of the patient. In this way, disease models have been created for investigating diseases such as Down syndrome, type I diabetes,...