Biologists from Harvard Medical School have created a technology for creating ureteric buds from
The kidneys are formed from two building blocks,scientists explain: metanephric mesenchyme and the rudiment of the ureter. Seven years ago, researchers learned how to shape the first one, and in a new study, they showed how to grow the second one. Thus, there are now technologies for creating all the components necessary for growing an artificial kidney.
Organoid of the ureteric bud under a microscope. Image: Bonventre Lab, Brigham and Women's Hospital
In their work, biologists usedhuman pluripotent stem cells. Under controlled stimulation, they caused these versatile cells to first transform into pronephric progenitor cells and then form spheres with a molecular signature similar to the renal ducts.
Researchers have shown that germ cellsof the ureter can interact with the artificial metanephric mesenchyme in the same way as in the real development of the kidney in the body of the embryo. The authors of the work say that the results of the study will help in the treatment of kidney diseases that affect the collecting system, such as polycystic kidney disease. This genetic disease in the world suffers from 10 to 12 million people.
We have for the first time created human kidney cells thatcan be used to study new drugs, investigate hereditary and acquired diseases, and improve our understanding of how the kidneys develop and control metabolic balance in the body.
Joseph Bonventre, researcher at Harvard Medical School and co-author of the paper
Read more:
The first images of the underground part of Mars surprised scientists
From the body to the mouth: scientists have understood where the teeth came from
A galaxy located 12 billion light-years from Earth 'curled up' into an Einstein ring