Digestive System

The Digestive System category provides cells from the gastrointestinal tract, liver, pancreas, and associated organs for studying nutrient absorption, drug metabolism, barrier function, inflammatory bowel disease, liver fibrosis, pancreatitis, and gastrointestinal cancers. Our products feature human intestinal epithelial cells for barrier function studies using TEER measurements and permeability assays (e.g., FITC-dextran). Gut epithelial cells line the colon and small intestine, and they are used for co-culture with gut microbiota to study host-microbe interactions. Gastrointestinal epithelial cells cover stomach to rectum; we provide cells from each region. Intestinal epithelial cell primary cultures are also available from surgical resections or biopsies; they are used for short-term studies of nutrient transport and innate immunity. Gastric epithelium cells are used for H. pylori research, including studies on bacterial adhesion, vacuolating cytotoxin, and gastric carcinogenesis. For pancreas: pancreatic stellate cells contribute to pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer desmoplasia; they are used for studies on fibrosis and tumor-stroma interactions. Islets of langerhans (endocrine pancreas) are also relevant for diabetes research. For liver: hepatic stellate cells are key in fibrosis; they transdifferentiate into myofibroblasts producing collagen I and are used to test anti-fibrotic drugs. Kupffer cells are liver-resident macrophages; they are used for studies on endotoxin clearance, phagocytosis, and liver inflammation. Hepatocyte cell line such as HepaRG (differentiates into both hepatocyte-like and cholangiocyte-like cells) or primary human primary hepatocytes (freshly isolated) are used for drug clearance and toxicity studies. Primary human hepatocytes are the gold standard for phase I/II enzyme studies, as they retain in vivo metabolic capacities. Researchers frequently use pancreatic stellate cells for fibrosis models (e.g., collagen gel contraction). Our digestive cells, gastrointestinal cells, and intestinal epithelial cells are validated for marker expression (e.g., E-cadherin for epithelial cells, CK19 for biliary cells, α-SMA for activated stellate cells). Hepatic stellate cells are activated in liver disease models using TGF-β or ethanol. Kupffer cells are isolated from liver for inflammation studies using LPS stimulation. Whether you need human intestinal epithelial cells for gut-on-a-chip or hepatocyte cell line for metabolic assays, our Digestive System category supports your gastroenterology and hepatology research.