Figure 1.

Illustration of in vitro and ex vivo models. Panel (a) schematic representation of a Transwell system, where epithelial cells, immune cells such as peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), microbes, and other features can be co-cultured together. Panel (b) schematic representation of intestinal organoids highlighting the different cell types. Panel (c) shows the setup of Ussing chamber system where the temperature is maintained at 37 °C in the reservoir. Panel (d) is a representation of the everted gut sac system. The everted gut sac is transferred to the incubation flask containing oxygenated media. Panel (e) illustrates the designed system InTESTine^TM from TNO with apical and basolateral compartments [40]. Panel (a–d) illustrations were created with BioRender.com and permission of the authors were taken for using the illustration in panel (e).