Establishment of porcine and monkey colonic organoids for drug toxicity study

Li, Haonan; Wang, Yalong; Zhang, Mengxian; Wang, Hong; Cui, Along; Zhao, Jianguo; Ji, Weizhi; Chen, Ye-Guang

Pig and monkey are widely used models for exploration of human diseases and evaluation of drug efficiency and toxicity, but high cost limits their uses. Organoids have been shown to be promising models for drug test as they reasonably preserve tissue structure and functions. However, colonic organoids of pig and monkey are not yet established. Here, we report a culture medium to support the growth of porcine and monkey colonic organoids. Wnt signaling and PGE2 are important for long-term expansion of the organoids, and their withdrawal results in lineage differentiation to mature cells. Furthermore, we observe that porcine colonic organoids are closer to human colonic organoids in terms of drug toxicity response. Successful establishment of porcine and monkey colonic organoids would facilitate the mechanistic investigation of the homeostatic regulation of the intestine of these animals and is useful for drug development and toxicity studies. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13619-021-00094-4.