Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2012;7(6):e38368. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0038368. Epub 2012 Jun 6.
The omentum is a sheet-like tissue attached to the greater curvature of the stomach and contains secondary lymphoid organs called milky spots. The omentum has been used for its healing potential for over 100 years by transposing the omental pedicle to injured organs (omental transposition), but the mechanism by which omentum helps the healing process of damaged tissues is not well understood. Omental transposition promotes expansion of pancreatic islets, hepatocytes, embryonic kidney, and neurons. Omental cells (OCs) can be activated by foreign bodies in vivo. Once activated, they become a rich source for growth factors and express pluripotent stem cell markers. Moreover, OCs become engrafted in injured tissues suggesting that they might function as stem cells.Omentum consists of a variety of phenotypically and functionally distinctive cells. To understand the mechanism of tissue repair support by the omentum in more detail, we analyzed the cell subsets derived from the omentum on immune and inflammatory responses. Our data demonstrate that the omentum contains at least two groups of cells that support tissue repair, immunomodulatory myeloid derived suppressor cells and omnipotent stem cells that are indistinguishable from mesenchymal stem cells. Based on these data, we propose that the omentum is a designated organ for tissue repair and healing in response to foreign invasion and tissue damage.
网膜是附着于胃大弯的片状组织，包含称为乳斑的次级淋巴器官。网膜通过将网膜蒂转移到受伤的器官（网膜移位）来利用其愈合潜力已有 100 多年的历史，但网膜帮助受损组织愈合过程的机制尚未得到很好的理解。网膜移位促进胰岛、肝细胞、胚胎肾和神经元的扩张。网膜细胞 (OC) 可以在体内被异物激活。一旦被激活，它们就成为生长因子的丰富来源，并表达多能干细胞标志物。此外，OC 被移植到受损组织中，表明它们可能作为干细胞发挥作用。网膜由多种表型和功能不同的细胞组成。为了更详细地了解网膜支持组织修复的机制，我们分析了来自网膜的细胞亚群在免疫和炎症反应中的作用。我们的数据表明，网膜至少包含两组支持组织修复的细胞，即免疫调节髓源抑制细胞和与间充质干细胞无法区分的万能干细胞。基于这些数据，我们提出网膜是一种针对外来入侵和组织损伤的组织修复和愈合的指定器官。
