Development and Characterisation of Equine Gastric Organoids

Abstract

The healthy equine stomach is of essential importance to equine digestive health and overall wellbeing. Diseases of the gastric mucosa such as gastric ulcers are highly prevalent in equids, particularly amongst racing thoroughbreds, and present a significant challenge to animal health and welfare. Despite this, there is currently no lab-based model capable of accurately representing the cellular diversity and cellular interactions within the equine gastric mucosa to aid in development of treatment options. We present here the first report of equine gastric organoids derived from glandular mucosa tissue. Through bulk RNA-sequencing and immunofluorescence we show these gastric organoids are representative of the tissue whilst retaining the individual gene-expression properties of the animal they were derived from. We also show these organoids are stable over multiple passages and can be differentiated towards different cell-types to upregulate protein and gene expression of specialised cell markers such as gastric foveolar cell associated mucin 5ac, gastrokine 1 & 2 and trefoil factor 2. This model establishes the first physiologically relevant in vitro model of the equine gastric epithelium, representing a significant opportunity for developing understanding and therapeutic treatments of gastric diseases in equids.