by Zachary Hendrickson

Posted on April 15, 2013

Synthetic kidneys for humans could soon be a reality according to new work being done at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Harald Ott says that he and his colleagues have bioengineered and successfully transplanted the first ever synthetic rat kidney. “What is unique about this approach is that the native organ’s architecture is preserved, so that the resulting  graft can be transplanted just like a donor kidney and connected to the  recipient’s vascular [blood] and  urinary systems,” Dr Ott said. The synthetic kidney was created by removing the scaffold tissue of a dead rat’s kidney with an enzymatic detergent. Next, skin and blood cells are infused into a graft to form the structure of the organ. Patients who receive kidneys made in this way would not require any immunosuppressing because they are being given a transplant of their own cells.

A study in the journal of Natural Medicine has said that the artificial kidney was able to filter blood to produce urine, even when transplanted inside a recipient rat. Dr. Ott notes, however, that his bioengineered kidney does not function as well as other normal kidneys. It is possible that this is because the donor cells were those of an immature animal. “Further refinement of the cell types used for seeding and additional maturation in culture may allow us to achieve a more functional organ. Based on this initial proof of principle, we hope that bioengineered kidneys will someday be able to fully replace kidney function just as donor kidneys do,” Dr Ott said. Hopes are high that further scientific developments can help curb the growing demand for organs around the world.

(http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/pioneering-scientists-grow-rats-kidney-in-lab–and-hope-it-will-lead-to-breakthrough-for-human-organ-transplants-8572530.html The Independent – Steve Connor)