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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jul 7, 2020; 26(25): 3562-3576
Published online Jul 7, 2020. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v26.i25.3562
Development of innovative tools for investigation of nutrient-gut interaction
Wei-Kun Huang, Cong Xie, Richard L Young, Jiang-Bo Zhao, Heike Ebendorff-Heidepriem, Karen L Jones, Christopher K Rayner, Tong-Zhi Wu
Wei-Kun Huang, Cong Xie, Richard L Young, Karen L Jones, Christopher K Rayner, Tong-Zhi Wu, Adelaide Medical School, Centre of Research Excellence in Translating Nutritional Science to Good Health, the University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
Wei-Kun Huang, Jiang-Bo Zhao, Heike Ebendorff-Heidepriem, Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, School of Physical Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
Wei-Kun Huang, Jiang-Bo Zhao, Heike Ebendorff-Heidepriem, The ARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
Richard L Young, Diabetes, Nutrition and Gut Health, Lifelong Health, South Australia Health and Medical Research Institute, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
Christopher K Rayner, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Royal Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia
Tong-Zhi Wu, Department of Endocrinology, Zhongda Hospital, Institute of Diabetes, School of Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, Jiangsu Province, China
Author contributions: Huang WK and Wu TZ designed the study; Huang WK and Xie C provided input into the writing of the paper; Xie C contributed to preparation of the figures; Huang WK, Wu TZ, Young RL, Zhao JB, Ebendorff-Heidepriem H, Jones KL and Rayner CK revised the manuscript.
Supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia, No. APP1147333; the National Nature Science Foundation of China, No. 81870561; the Hospital Research Foundation of Australia; and the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics, No. CE140100003.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Jones KL has received research funding from Sanofi and AstraZeneca; Rayner CK has received research funding from AstraZeneca, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Eli Lilly, Novartis, and Sanofi; Wu TZ has received research funding from Novartis and AstraZeneca; None of the other authors has any personal or financial conflict of interest to declare.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Tong-Zhi Wu, MD, PhD, Doctor, Senior Research Fellow, Adelaide Medical School, Centre of Research Excellence in Translating Nutritional Science to Good Health, the University of Adelaide, Level 6 Adelaide Health and Medical Sciences (AHMS) building, North Terrace, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia. tongzhi.wu@adelaide.edu.au
Received: March 15, 2020
Peer-review started: March 15, 2020
First decision: March 21, 2020
Revised: May 29, 2020
Accepted: June 18, 2020
Article in press: June 18, 2020
Published online: July 7, 2020
Processing time: 114 Days and 9.9 Hours
Abstract

The gastrointestinal tract is the key interface between the ingesta and the human body. There is wide recognition that the gastrointestinal response to nutrients or bioactive compounds, particularly the secretion of numerous hormones, is critical to the regulation of appetite, body weight and blood glucose. This concept has led to an increasing focus on “gut-based” strategies for the management of metabolic disorders, including type 2 diabetes and obesity. Understanding the underlying mechanisms and downstream effects of nutrient-gut interactions is fundamental to effective translation of this knowledge to clinical practice. To this end, an array of research tools and platforms have been developed to better understand the mechanisms of gut hormone secretion from enteroendocrine cells. This review discusses the evolution of in vitro and in vivo models and the integration of innovative techniques that will ultimately enable the development of novel therapies for metabolic diseases.

Keywords: Nutrient-gut interaction; Metabolic disorders; Incretin hormones; Enteroendocrine cells; Enteroids; Intestinal intubation; Intestine-on-a-chip

Core tip: The development of platforms for investigating nutrient-gut interactions is critical to understanding how nutrients trigger the release of gut hormones and has the potential to yield novel targets for improved management of metabolic disorders. In addition to the use of endoscopic or surgical gut tissues or primary enteroendocrine cells, in vitro models now include enteroendocrine cell lines originating from rodent (STC-1 and GLUTag) or human (NCI-H716 and HuTo-80) intestinal tumours, and intestinal organoids differentiated from intestinal stem cells. The physiological relevance of these models has been challenged, but may be improved substantially by incorporating advanced biomedical techniques (e.g., microfluidic devices) into the culture system. These approaches have complemented clinical studies utilising intestinal intubation, often with integrated manometry and impedance recording, which have revealed gut region-specific responses to intraluminal contents. Newer clinical developments include the use of novel ingestible sensors.