Paediatric gastric organoids as a tool for disease modelling and clinical translation

Knowledge of gastric epithelial homeostasis remains incomplete, lacking human-specific models for study. This study establishes a protocol for deriving gastric epithelial organoids from paediatric gastric biopsies, providing a platform for modelling disease and developing translational therapies.

Full-thickness surgical samples and endoscopic mucosal biopsies were obtained from six patients. Gastric glands were isolated by a chemical chelation protocol and then plated in 3D culture in Matrigel^® droplets in chemically defined medium. After formation, organoids were passaged by single cell dissociation or manual disaggregation. Cell composition and epithelial polarity of organoids were assessed by bright field microscopy and immunofluorescence analysis, comparing them to native paediatric gastric tissue.

Gastric glands were successfully isolated from all six patients who were aged 4 months to 16 years. Gastric glands from all patients sealed to form spherical gastric organoids. These organoids could be passaged by manual disaggregation or single cell dissociation, remaining proliferative up to 1 year in culture. Organoids retained normal epithelial cell polarity, with the apical surface orientated towards the central lumen. Organoids expressed markers of mature gastric epithelial cell types, except for parietal cells.

Gastric organoids can be reliably generated from paediatric biopsies and are a representative in vitro model for studying gastric epithelium.