Xenotransplantation of human intestine into mouse abdomen or subcutaneous tissue: Novel platforms for the study of the human enteric nervous system

Abstract

Background Current efforts to develop stem cell therapy as a novel treatment for neurointestinal diseases are limited by the unavailability of a model system to study cell transplantation in the human intestine. We propose that xenograft models support enteric nervous system (ENS) development in the fetal human intestine when transplanted into mice subcutaneously or intra-abdominally. Methods Fetal human small and large intestine were grafted onto the small intestinal mesentery and into the subcutaneous tissue of immunodeficient mice Show more