Co-culture of intestinal epithelial and stromal cells in 3D collagen-based environments

AIM: To investigate the co-culture of established intestinal epithelial cell lines and stromal cells in a series of collagen-based environments for production of tissue-engineered intestinal epithelium for in vitro investigations.

MATERIALS & METHODS: Intestinal epithelial cells were co-cultured with fibroblasts on a range of supporting collagen matrices including commercially available Promogran and on collagen-based gels.

RESULTS: Epithelial growth was achieved with one combination of vimentin-expressing stromal and cytokeratin-expressing intestinal epithelial cells grown on collagen gels supplemented with Matrigel, and held at an air-liquid interface.

CONCLUSIONS: Collagen-based gels can support the co-culture of intestinal epithelial and stromal cells resulting in the growth of an epithelium that has some morphological similarity to normal intestinal tissue.