Bottom-up assembly of salivary gland microtissues for assessing myoepithelial cell function

Research Overview

Myoepithelial cells are flat, stellate cells found in exocrine tissues including the salivary glands. They have been studied extensively in mammary and lacrimal glands, but far less is known about those from human salivary glands, and only one prior report had isolated normal human salivary myoepithelial cells for tissue engineering. A functional organoid model combining myoepithelial and secretory acinar cells is needed to understand how the two cell types coordinate unidirectional fluid secretion.

This study developed a bottom-up approach for generating salivary gland microtissues from primary human salivary myoepithelial cells (hSMECs) and secretory cells, assembling the two populations into organized microtissues.