Bioengineered Rat Kidney Produces Urine

The Massachusetts General Hospital investigators bioengineered rat kidneys and after the transplantation, the kidney fulfilled its function of filtering blood and thus producing urea. This process was done by extracting the living cells from a donor organ with the specific detergent solution and repopulating the collagen scaffold with kidney cells from newborn rats as well as human endothelial cells to replace the lining of the vascular system. To preserve the kidney’s complexity, the research team decellularized rat kidneys. After making sure the cells were transplanted on the scaffold with the appropriate portions of the collagen scaffold, the team delivered vascular cells through the renal artery and kidney cells through the ureter. Adjusting the pressures in the bioreactor for 12 consecutive days enabled the cells to be dispersed throughout the entire organ. To test if the organ properly functioned, the team placed the organ in a device that passed blood through its vascular system and drained any urine, showing that blood was being filtered thus, producing urine.

I found this article interesting because there are about 100,000 Americans facing end-stage kidney failure and are unable to find a donor in time. Even those who receive donor organs face the challenge of immunosuppression due to the drugs that must be taken after a transplant. This technology would use the patient’s own cells which would bypass chronic immunosuppression and shortage of donors.

In short, I recommend reading this article because it also provides a video visualization of the entire process. 

http://bioengineer.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=348:bioengineered-kidney-makes-urine-after-transplantation&catid=89&Itemid=494