Recapitulating development to generate kidney organoid cultures

Abstract

Evidence of the successful recreation of kidney cell types via the directed differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells adds the kidney to the list of tissues for which this approach to tissue regeneration is becoming feasible. Arguably, the kidney is one of the most complex organs to recapitulate in vitro with the final adult organ containing more than 25 distinct cell types playing a diverse number of distinct functional roles. This organ also has a heavy reliance upon the architectural accuracy of the component cellular structures as well as their appropriate co-localisation and interaction with surrounding cell types. Here we will focus on the generation of complex multicellular kidney organoids in vitro and examine both the rationale for the protocol developed, the advantages of a complex kidney organoid and the short- and long-term applications of such an approach.