Bioengineered ureter

Scientists have taken another step towards growing human kidneys "in vitro"

Anna Novikovskaya, Naked Science

Every ninth adult in the world has some kind of kidney disease, while the number of people suffering from kidney failure is steadily increasing. The possibility of growing healthy kidney tissue in the laboratory can both speed up the process of treating a diseased organ and completely restore its lost functions.

In the process of intrauterine development, the kidney is formed from two types of tissue — the metanephral mesenchyma and the rudiment of the ureter. Previously, researchers managed to obtain a metanephral mesenchyma from pluripotent stem cells, and now they have successfully grown a rudimentary human ureter in the laboratory (pictured).

In addition to the process of transformation of stem cells into the rudimentary ureter, scientists were able to observe how two types of tissue interact in the formation of a full-fledged kidney. Usually this process occurs only in the body of the embryo. 

In the future, the tissues grown in this way can not only be used for transplantation: they will also allow for the safe testing of experimental treatments. For example, the embryo of the ureter grown "in vitro" will help to cope with some genetic diseases of the collective kidney system, such as polycystic kidney disease.

Although it is too early to talk about creating a whole kidney in the laboratory, now people have become one step closer to this breakthrough in science and medicine.

The study was published in the journal Nature Biotechnology (McCracken et al., Human ureteric bud organoids recapitulate branching morphogenesis and differentiate into functional collecting duct cell types).

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru