Reconstruction of the kidney based on embryology

Abstract

The study of kidney regeneration has progressed more slowly than that of the other organs. This is not only because the kidney is composed of a wide variety of cells, but also because developmental processes of the kidney were not clarified in detail. We proved that "nephron progenitors" originate from posterior nascent mesoderm and differentiate by way of posterior intermediate mesoderm. We also found that long-term exposure to Wnt signal is the key to these processes.
We established a method, based on these embryologic findings, to reconstruct the 3-D kidney structures via nephron progenitors from mouse embryonic stem cells and human induced pluripotent stem cells. Many groups have now reported the induction of nephron progenitors, progenitor expansion, generation of kidney organoids, and gene manipulations, as well as the trials to generate the kidney in chimeric animals. Although many problems remain to be solved, the reciprocal interactions between embryology and regeneration research will lead to the realization of regenerative medicine of the kidney.