Functional human salivary gland organoids for tissue regeneration in chemically defined culture systems.

ABSTRACT: Regenerative therapies for salivary gland dysfunction remain unavailable. We establish a fully chemically defined, xeno-free three-dimensional culture system to generate functional human salivary gland organoids. These organoids recapitulate the typical glandular architecture and display multilineage cellular composition, supporting long-term expansion with high transcriptomic fidelity to the primary tissue. The organoids exhibit key salivary functions, including glycoprotein secretion, amylase expression, and calcium flux in response to cholinergic stimulation. Single-cell transcriptomic analysis reveals preserved epithelial heterogeneity within the organoids and indicates a basal-to-ductal-to-acinar bifurcated differentiation trajectory. In the orthotopic transplantation model using non-

SUBMITTER: Zhang X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12923968 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature