Kidneys in a dish

• Published in: Nature (London) Vol. 615; no. 7951; pp. S10 - S11
• Main Author: Bender, Eric
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group 09.03.2023
• Subjects: Biologists; Biology; Biotechnology industry; Blood vessels; Cell culture; Diabetes; Diabetes mellitus; Filtrate; Funnels; Glucose; Kidney diseases; Kidney transplantation; Kidneys; Organoids; Polycystic kidney; Solutes; Stem cells; Tubes; Ureter; Urine; Netherlands
• ISSN: 0028-0836; 1476-4687
• DOI: 10.1038/d41586-023-00652-7

The resulting filtrate then passes through a series of tubes, in which various solutes are exchanged with blood vessels, before ending up in a branching tree of collecting ducts that funnels the waste to the ureter and out towards the bladder. Organoid models also readily display the characteristic cysts of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease - the most prevalent genetic kidney disease and one subject to intense research. Diabetes is the largest driver of chronic disease in adults but a formidable task to model, because the condition impairs the blood vessels that are difficult to reproduce in organoids. [...]says Xia, kidney organoids, like many cell cultures, are generally bathed in high levels of glucose, making it hard to pick out the effects of the raised blood glucose levels generated in diabetes. In her lab's unpublished experiments, human kidney organoids transplanted into immunocompromised mice successfully gather blood vessels and start filtering urine.