Bioprinting of mini-kidneys
A study conducted by the Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI), Australia, and the biotech company Organovo, showed the effectiveness of using human mini-kidneys created using three-dimensional bioprinting to screen the toxicity of drugs that cause kidney disease in humans. The authors described the technique of bioprinting with stem cells, which allows producing sufficiently large volumes of kidney tissue that can be used to create transplants.
In 3D bioprinting, biochernils containing stem cells are used, from which artificial living tissue is created using computer control.
MCRI Professor Melissa Little, a specialist in human kidney modeling, first started growing kidney organoids in 2015. But the new bioprinting method is faster, more reliable and allows you to scale the entire process. The study showed that with the help of 3D bioprinting, it will be possible to create about 200 mini-kidneys in 10 minutes without compromising quality.
The size of a grain of rice, 3D-printed mini-kidneys are completely identical to a normal–sized kidney, including tubules and blood vessels that form filter structures - nephrons.
Professor Little and her group hope to test new drugs on mini-kidneys to find new ways to treat kidney diseases or to test whether the drug can damage the kidney.
Kidney damage caused by medications is a serious side effect, and it is difficult to predict with the help of animal studies. The new human mini-kidneys are a practical approach to testing for the toxicity of the drug before use.
In this study, the toxicity of aminoglycosides, a group of antibiotics that usually affect the kidneys, was tested. Researchers found increased death of certain types of cells in the kidneys after administration of aminoglycosides.
Culturing stem cells from a patient with a genetic kidney disease, and then growing mini-kidneys from them, will also provide an opportunity to develop a treatment specific to each patient, which can be extended to a number of kidney diseases. In addition, the creation of human tissue from stem cells also opens up prospects for the creation of bioengineered kidney tissue.
Three-dimensional bioprinting allows you to generate a larger amount of kidney tissue with precise observance of biophysical properties, including the number and type of cells. The development of renal replacement therapy using renal tissue derived from stem cells will require a significant increase in the number of nephron structures present in the tissue to be transplanted. Using bioprinting, it is possible to increase the number of nephrons to the necessary for transplantation of this tissue to people.
Article by K.T.Lawlor et al. Cellular extrusion bioprinting improves kidney organoid reproducibility and conformation published in the journal Nature Materials.
Aminat Adzhieva, portal "Eternal Youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on MCRI materials: Researchers use cutting edge technology to bioprint mini-kidneys.