Scientists Move a Step Closer to Tissue-engineered Kidneys

Researchers are in the process of finding ways to engineer new kidney tissue from a patient's own cells or another source. The advance could lead to more options for individuals with kidney failure, as well as better tools for understanding kidney diseases and how to treat them.

Investigators can produce tissues similar to immature kidneys from simple suspensions of embryonic kidney cells, but they have been unsuccessful at growing more mature kidney tissues in the lab because the kidneys' complicated filtering units do not form without the support of blood vessels.

Kidney Stones / Renal Stones - Causes - Symptoms - Diagnosis - Treatment - FAQs
A kidney stone is a solid mass made up of tiny crystals and may appear in any area of the urinary system.

Now, from suspensions of single kidney cells, Christodoulos Xinaris from Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research and his colleagues have for the first time constructed "organoids" that can be integrated into a living animal and carry out kidney functions including blood filtering and molecule re-absorption.

Key to their success was soaking the organoids in a solution containing molecules that promote blood vessel formation, then injecting these molecules into the recipient animals after the organoids were implanted below the kidneys.

The organoids continued to mature and were viable for three to four weeks after implantation.

Quiz on Kidney Stones
Kidney stones or calculus produces the most severe form of pain in humans. The pain has often been described to be worse than childbirth, broken bones, gunshot wounds, burns, or surgery. Once you form a kidney stone you are always susceptible to another stone. Take this quiz to find out how much do you know about stone disease. Once you complete find out how you fared compared to others who have taken the quiz.

"The ability to build functional renal tissue starting from suspensions of single cells represents a considerable step toward the practical goal of engineering renal tissues suitable for transplantation and offers the methodological basis for a number of investigative and therapeutic applications," Dr. Xinaris said.

For example, disease-related genes could be introduced into an organoid to help researchers study the mechanisms of complex kidney diseases and to perform a preliminary screening of new drugs to treat them.

Slide Multimedia Animation on Surgical Removal of Kidney or Nephrectomy
Graphical explanation of removal of kidney. This is sometimes necessary for a kidney that stops functioning or if it has a cancer in it. It is a major operation and requires hospitalization for 5 to 7 days.

The study has been published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN).

Source-ANI

Tissue Engineering Concepts may be Helped by Cells Derived from Debrided Burn Tissue
Cells from the non-viable tissue remaining after burn injury, which are normally removed to prevent infection, can be a source of mesenchymal cells that may be used for tissue engineering