US researchers have managed to grow large intestines in lab rats that look and act like the real thing. Dr Joseph P Vacanti, from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and colleagues created the large bowel by transplanting colon cells obtained from baby rats into adult rats. After 4 weeks, the colon that grew from the transplanted cells was removed and analysed. Results showed that it was virtually indistinguishable from normal colon. Furthermore, cells taken from the created colon acted like normal colon cells in tests. There are a number of disease, including cancer, where a patient may need to have some or all of their large bowel, or colon, to be removed. In these circumstances, surgeons often use a small part of the patients small bowel to replace the colon, however this is not ideal and can cause a number of serious complication. Thus, substitutes that act in a similar manner to the colon itself would be of great help to such patients.
SOURCE/REFERENCE: Annals of Surgery 2003;238:35-41.
