Catholic University of Korea team builds 3D co-culture platform for gut microbes and host cells
The platform, developed with Ewha Womans University, keeps oxygen-dependent human cells and anaerobic gut bacteria in separate layers of one culture system.
A team led by Professor Kang Nam-joo at the Catholic University of Korea, with Professor Kim Bong-soo's group at Ewha Womans University, developed a three-dimensional co-culture platform that mimics the human colon to study interactions between gut microbes and host cells, unimatea.co.kr reports. unimatea.co.kr
unimatea.co.krunimatea.co.krOpen source ↗ The work was published on October 23 in Gut Microbes (2025 JCR impact factor 15.3, top 5.4% in microbiology).
Limits of existing models
Human cells need oxygen, while anaerobic gut microbes are oxygen-sensitive, so stable joint culture has been difficult in conventional models. Gut organoids and gut-on-a-chip systems reproduce tissue structure and control the microenvironment well, but co-culturing anaerobes with immune cells may require extra techniques or equipment.
Platform design
The platform, Mm 3D-HaeMan (Mucosal Mimetic 3D–Host Aerobic Microbiota Anaerobic Co-culture), reproduces the colon's oxygen gradient and mucus layer. Epithelial cells, immune cells and anaerobic microbes occupy spatially separate layers, each under suitable conditions, and interact via metabolites and signaling molecules. It runs on general-purpose culture equipment, and each layer can be sampled independently, so gene expression and metabolism of host cells and microbes can be analyzed simultaneously.
Test with two bacteria
The team analyzed cross-feeding between Bifidobacterium bifidum and Anaerostipes caccae. Co-culture increased production of butyrate, a short-chain fatty acid important for gut health. unimatea.co.kr
unimatea.co.krunimatea.co.krOpen source ↗ With host cells, the authors observed higher mitochondrial respiration in epithelial cells, preserved barrier-related function and altered immune cytokine responses. Joint transcriptome analysis showed that microbial metabolic gene expression depended on the presence of host cells.
