Fake and Kidney

Organoids are lab-grown models of tissues and organs – they give researchers the chance to poke around in ways that are impossible in the real thing. Yet growing realistic organoids is a challenge. Here tissue engineers build a 3D kidney-oid, by mimicking how the stroma (structural tissue) guides functional tissue, the parenchyma, as it develops. Watching how real kidney stroma forms, the researchers programmed mouse embryonic stem cells to follow a similar path. Combining these with parenchymal cells destined to become different parts of the kidney helps this organoid to bloom with a complex architecture. A digitised image reveals parts of its lab-grown nephron (red, white and blue) together with ureteric buds (green) which, in real kidneys, syphon liquid towards the bladder. These kidney-oids may now be used to study kidney disease or to better understand how this vital organ cleans our blood.

Written by John Ankers

John Ankers

Writer

A former researcher in systems biology, John is now an online biology tutor and professional coach supporting the wellbeing of scientists and NHS professionals. He's writing, too, of course.

Website

• Image from work by Shunsuke Tanigawa and Etsuko Tanaka, and colleagues
• Department of Kidney Development, Institute of Molecular Embryology and Genetics, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in Nature Communications, February 2022