Dr. Ryuichi Nishinakamura and his team at Kumamoto University, Japan have successfully developed a method to create the third and final component of their lab-generated kidney tissue made of cultured mouse embryonic stem cells.
Prior to this finding, various research teams have successfully induced the first two puzzle pieces—the nephron progenitor and the ureteric bud. Using the final component, the kidney-specific stromal progenitor, Dr. Nishinakamura and his team were able to complete the puzzle and generate a 3D tissue that mirrors the structure of a kidney, complete with extensively branched tubules.
The team has also successfully induced the first two components from human stem cells. Future research will focus on generating the last component from human stem cells to build a human kidney.
#Kidney #StemCellResearch #StromalProgenitor #stemcell
Image source: Tanigawa, S in Nature Communications