IntestiCult™ Intestinal Organoid Culture Media

IntestiCult™ organoid culture media are complete growth media that support establishment, expansion, long-term maintenance, and further differentiation of intestinal organoid cultures from human or mouse intestinal crypts. Developed in collaboration with Dr. Hans Clevers and Foundation Hubrecht Organoid Technology (The HUB) this complete and defined medium generates organoids from intestinal crypts in less than a week. These ‘mini-guts’ retain the crypt- and villus-like domains, a central lumen and all major cell types found in the adult intestinal epithelium. The organoids are functional and ready for use in a number of research applications including disease modeling, drug screening and tissue regeneration.

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Addressing the Challenges in Intestinal Research

Studying the intestinal epithelium can pose multiple challenges. Traditional in vitro monolayer cultures are convenient but lack key structural features and the cellular diversity of an adult intestine. In vivo animal models allow experimentation on an intact intestine but are often more difficult and expensive to run, and provide limited relevance to human physiology. Intestinal organoids address many of these issues by providing a convenient in vitro system that has high physiological relevance.

What are Intestinal Organoids?

Intestinal organoids are three-dimensional multicellular structures that retain key features of the adult intestinal epithelium, such as the crypt- and villus-like domains, a central lumen and the major cell types: intestinal stem cells, Paneth cells, goblet cells, enteroendocrine cells and enterocytes. Organoid culture is a convenient and physiologically relevant tool that can be used in a variety of research applications.

Learn more about intestinal organoids >

Products Brand History Scientific Resources Key Applications

Why Use IntestiCult™?

COMPLETE. A complete medium that does not require additional growth factors.
PHYSIOLOGICALLY RELEVANT. Organoids retain key features and all major cell types found in the adult intestinal epithelium.
ROBUST. Efficient and reproducible generation of organoids in less than one week.
CONVENIENT AND EASY-TO-USE. Simple format and easy-to-follow optimized protocol.

Find the Right Media for Your Intestinal Research

Use the Interactive Product Finder to determine which IntestiCult™ media is best suited for your intestinal epithelial cell research.

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Intestinal Organoid Culture Media

IntestiCult™ Organoid Growth Medium (Human)

Recommended for:

Efficient establishment, expansion and long-term maintenance of human intestinal organoids

Species:

Human

For Use With:

Cultured intestinal crypts or single intestinal stem cells

IntestiCult™ Organoid Growth Medium (Mouse)

Recommended for:

Robust establishment, passaging, and maintenance of mouse intestinal organoids

Species:

Mouse

For Use With:

Cultured intestinal crypts or single intestinal stem cells

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IntestiCult™ Organoid Differentiation Medium (Human)

Recommended for:

Further differentiation of human intestinal organoids in 3D, or as monolayers/air-liquid interface cultures

Species:

Human

For Use With:

Intestinal organoids derived from human intestinal crypts, or passaged organoids that have been cultured with IntestiCult™ Organoid Growth Medium (Human)

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Brand History

Dr. Hans Clevers and his research team have made significant contributions to the field of stem cells and organoid culture. In 2007, Dr. Nick Barker et al. identified the presence of LGR5⁺ stem cells in the intestinal crypt. In 2009, Dr. Toshiro Sato et al. published a protocol for establishing organoid structures from intestinal crypts or single intestinal stem cells. The protocol described the culture conditions that would support long-term expansion of these organoids without requiring a mesenchymal niche. In 2014, Dr. Clevers and The HUB foundation for Organoid Technology signed an agreement with STEMCELL Technologies to manufacture and distribute cell culture media for organoids. Since then, the release of IntestiCult™ Organoid Growth Medium (Mouse) in 2015, and IntestiCult™ Organoid Growth Medium (Human) in 2017 has provided researchers with a convenient, complete and affordable medium for establishing organoid cultures.

Watch a webinar on organoids as a model for human disease by Dr. Clevers >

We are pleased that STEMCELL will be our partner in making specialty media for growth of organoids available to the scientific community. The broad availability of off-the-shelf cell culture media from a world leader in the development of specialized cell culture media and cell separation products represents an essential step in the further implementation of this exciting technology.

Dr. Hans Clevers, Founding Director of The HUB

Scientific Resources

Explore our resources to learn more about organoids, and learn how to generate, culture, and differentiate intestinal organoids.

Key Applications of Intestinal Organoids

Epithelial Cell Biology

Grabinger T et al. (2014) Ex vivo culture of intestinal crypt organoids as a model system for assessing cell death induction in intestinal epithelial cells and enteropathy. Cell Death Dis 5: e1228.

Intestinal Stem Cell Niche

Sato T et al. (2011) Paneth cells constitute the niche for Lgr5 stem cells in intestinal crypts. Nature 469(7330): 415-8.

Gene Expression and Function

Koo B-K et al. (2012) Controlled gene expression in primary Lgr5 organoid cultures. Nat Methods 9(1): 81-3.

Infection and Immunity

Farin HF et al (2014) Paneth cell extrusion and release of antimicrobial products is directly controlled by immune cell-derived IFN-γ. J Exp Med 211(7): 1393-405.
Wilson SS et al. (2014) A small intestinal organoid model of non-invasive enteric pathogen-epithelial cell interactions. Mucosal Immunol 8(2): 352-61.
Zhang YG et al. (2014) Salmonella-infected crypt-derived intestinal organoid culture system for host-bacterial interactions. Physiol Rep 2(9): e12147.

Transplantation and Engraftment

Yui S et al. (2012) Functional engraftment of colon epithelium expanded in vitro from a single adult Lgr5⁺ stem cell. Nat Med 18(4): 618-23.

Cystic Fibrosis

Dekkers JF et al. (2013) A functional CFTR assay using primary cystic fibrosis intestinal organoids. Nat Med 19(7): 939-45.
Schwank G et al. (2013) Functional repair of CFTR by CRISPR/Cas9 in intestinal stem cell organoids of cystic fibrosis patients. Cell Stem Cell 13(6): 653-8.

Colorectal Cancer

Matano M et al. (2015) Modeling colorectal cancer using CRISPR-Cas9-mediated engineering of human intestinal organoids. Nat Med 21(3):256-62.

Drug-Screening

Ranga A et al. (2014) Drug discovery through stem cell-based organoid models. Adv Drug Deliv Rev 69-70: 19-28.