Human stem cells have been turned into kidney tissue in a move towards creating new organs for patients. The breakthrough has been made by Australian scientists who turned stem cells derived from skin into nephrons. The “organoids” have been compared to an unborn baby’s kidneys in the first trimester. While the are inappropriate for transplants […]
Human stem cells have been turned into kidney tissue in a move towards creating new organs for patients.
The breakthrough has been made by Australian scientists who turned stem cells derived from skin into nephrons. The “organoids” have been compared to an unborn baby’s kidneys in the first trimester. While the are inappropriate for transplants into sick patients the researchers believe that in the near term the organoids will be valuable for screening drugs for toxic effects, and recreating genetic kidney diseases in a dish.
The small clumps of kidney tissue that are no more than a centimetre in size also hold promise as sources of fresh kidney cells for medical treatments. Writing in Nature, Minoru Takasato and colleagues at the Royal Children’s hospital in Melbourne explain the breakthrough in which they managed to get cells to clump together into and form rudimentary kidneys over nearly three weeks in culture. “They spontaneously formed complex kidney organoids”. After growing the organoids in the lab, the researchers found they contained not only collecting ducts and nephrons to filter blood, but cells that form the connective tissue and blood vessels normally seen around nephrons in foetuses.
Until recently getting stem cells to form the various cell types found in the kidney has eluded scientists. However the Australian group solved the problem in a series of experiments that perfected the chemical signals stem cells need to receive to form early stage collecting ducts and nephrons.
This study follows on from one in August that saw scientists at Ohio State University grow an immature brain in a lab as a world first. The small collection of brain cells, smaller than the tip of a pea, could be used for drug tests for neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. The work follows reports from other stem cell researchers who made small miniature stomachs for studying gastric diseases, and primitive eyes, aimed at helping researchers to study and ultimately treat blindness. Soon rats will be out of a job.
