Tissue Engineering Renal Tissue

The Regenerative Division at Wake Forrest University has been doing some ground breaking work.
One study done there allowed for some initial work regarding re generation of kidney cells.  This system involves the cultivation of expanded primary renal cells in a three-dimensional collagen-based culture system. After one week of growth, individual renal cells began to form renal structures resembling tubules and glomeruli. Histologically, these structures show phenotypic resemblance to native kidney structures. The reconstituted tubules stained positively for Tamm-Horsfall protein, which is expressed in the thick ascending limb of Henle's Loop and distal convoluted tubules. These results show that renal structures can be reconstituted in a three-dimensional culture system, which may eventually be used for renal cell therapy applications. The article listed below presents a three-dimensional culture system that allows for reconstituting single renal cells into kidney structures in vitro, thus providing a controlled platform for renal tissue formation in vivo.

ref:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18845258