Dissection of gastric homeostasis in vivo facilitates permanent capture of isthmus stem cells in vitro [single-cell RNA-seq]

ABSTRACT: The glandular stomach is comprised of two anatomically and functionally distinct epithelial tissues termed corpus and antrum. While these compartments continuously regenerate to ensure normal organ function, our understanding of the molecular and cellular determinants that maintain these tissues remains incomplete. Here, we established an unbiased account of all gastric epithelial cells of the mouse corpus and antrum using single cell RNA-sequencing, allowing us to compare these adjacent epithelia and their stem cell compartments. Our data reveals that epithelial cell types with equivalent functional roles in the corpus and antrum utilize similar transcriptional programs, and our results support the existence of two discernible stem cell populations within the gland base and isthmus regions of these tissues. To study isthmus stem cells, typically underrepresented in conventional, gland base-enriched organoid cultures, we developed a novel 2D monolayer culture system to propagate mouse and human gastric epithelia. These 2D cultures expand indefinitely via Lgr5- isthmus-like cells and maintain the ability to differentiate into diverse gastric cell types. While 2D corpus and antrum cultures were transcriptionally similar, they retained a molecular memory and differentiation bias that mirrored their tissue of origin. Furthermore, gastric 2D cultures could be readily and reversibly converted into conventional 3D organoids, highlighting the remarkable plasticity of undifferentiated stomach epithelial cells. Finally, we utilized the 2D culture system to show that rare primary epithelial cells with high levels of Sox2 expression, previously hypothesized to be gastric stem cells, most closely resembled enterochromaffin (EC) cells and Sox2 is both necessary and sufficient to generate EC cells in vivo. Together, our data (i) provide important insights into the basis of gastric epithelial regeneration and differentiation, (ii) establish a tractable 2D culture system to capture and manipulate primary gastric isthmus stem cells in vitro and (iii) uncover a role for the stem cell factor Sox2 during EC cell specification.

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus

PROVIDER: GSE217472 | GEO | 2022/11/10

REPOSITORIES: GEO