Exogenous transforming growth factor-?1 enhances smooth muscle differentiation in embryonic mouse jejunal explants.

ABSTRACT: An ex vivo experimental strategy that replicates in vivo intestinal development would in theory provide an accessible setting with which to study normal and dysmorphic gut biology. The current authors recently described a system in which mouse embryonic jejunal segments were explanted onto semipermeable platforms and fed with chemically defined serum-free media. Over 3 days in organ culture, explants formed villi and they began to undergo spontaneous peristalsis. As defined in the current study, the wall of the explanted gut failed to form a robust longitudinal smooth muscle (SM) layer as it would do in vivo over the same time period. Given the role of transforming growth factor ?1 (TGF?1) in SM differentiation in other organs, it was hypothesized that exogenous TGF?1 would enhance SM differentiation in these explants. In vivo, TGF? receptors I and II were both detected in embryonic longitudinal jejunal SM cells and, in organ culture, exogenous TGF?1 induced robust differentiation of longitudinal SM. Microarray profiling showed that TGF?1 increased SM specific transcripts in a dose dependent manner. TGF?1 proteins were detected in amniotic fluid at a time when the intestine was physiologically herniated. By analogy with the requirement for exogenous TGF?1 for SM differentiation in organ culture, the TGF?1 protein that was demonstrated to be present in the amniotic fluid may enhance intestinal development when it is physiologically herniated in early gestation. Future studies of embryonic intestinal cultures should include TGF?1 in the defined media to produce a more faithful model of in vivo muscle differentiation. Copyright © 2017 The Authors Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

SUBMITTER: Coletta R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6485323 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature