Certain researchers at the known Murdoch Children's Research Institute have recently become successful in using new cutting-edge technology for them to bioprint certain miniature human kidneys inside their laboratory. The researchers now believe that their study will pave the way for future kidney failure treatments and also potentially for the entirety of lab-grown transplant organs.
3D bioprinting mini kidneys
The published study stated that the team made use of the recent 3D bioprinted kidneys for the screening drug toxicity coming from a class of different drugs all known to cause actual kidney damages towards humans. Researchers were able to find that during the study of the recent 3D bioprinting with the use of stem cells can produce a number of sheets of kidney tissue that will be largely enough for transplant.
The whole extrusion-based 3D bioprinting technique makes use of the "bioink" that is manufactured from stem cell paste that is squeezed out using a computer-guided pipette in order to create certain artificial living tissue. The researchers then teamed up with a known organization in San Diego called Organovo Inc in order to create the recently produced mini organs.
Up to 200 kidneys can be printed in 10 minutes
According to the story from Slashgear, the new methodology of printing is much faster and also more reliable. It is also able to allow the entire printing process to later on be scaled up. This particular technique is estimated to be able to create an estimate of 200 kidneys in only 10 minutes without having to compromise the entire organ quality.
The new bioprinted mini kidneys do vary in size from larger than a single grain of rice up to the size of a full fingernail and also fully resemble the regular-sized kidneys. They are also said to be compatible with smaller tiny tubes and blood vessels that will form the whole organ's filtering structures known as nephrons.
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3D printed kidneys used for testing
Researchers now believe that the smaller organs can actually be used in screening drugs for scientists and doctors to be able to find new treatments for other kidney diseases or to test if the new drugs are most likely to injure the said kidneys. The researchers then pointed out that the said drug-induced injuries to the kidneys will be a significant side effect and it can be quite difficult to come to an accurate prediction in animal studies.
During the given study, the scientists then investigated the whole level of toxicity of aminoglycosides which is the class of antibiotics that are known to commonly damage the kidney. Researchers previously stated before the study that the whole possibility of using certain mini kidneys in order to create certain transplantable tissue was still too far away from contemplation.
This scientific breakthrough has yet again shown the power of 3D printing especially in the organic field. This is a long step away from the earlier capability of 3D printing machines that were previously only able to make plastic and metal.
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Written by Urian Buenconsejo
