Overview
- Researchers identified cell proliferation rate, lumen pressure, and epithelial permeability as the key determinants of lumen morphology in pancreatic organoids.
- Chemical perturbations that altered proliferation and internal pressure changed lumen shape, and increasing epithelial permeability lowered pressure to convert spherical cavities into complex networks.
- The balance between growth and pressure governed outcomes, with low pressure and high proliferation yielding more complex, star-like lumens.
- Organoids formed either large spherical cavities or narrow interconnected ducts depending on culture conditions, matching model predictions.
- The peer‑reviewed findings, published in Nature Cell Biology (2025), were produced by a collaboration spanning MPI-CBG Dresden, the University of Tokyo, Academia Sinica, and IGBMC, with potential applications in studying branched ducts, cystic diseases, and drug testing.