Harvard scientists bioprint 3-D kidney tubules
Every day our kidneys tackle the daunting task of continuously cleaning our blood to prevent waste, salt, and excess fluid from building up inside our bodies. To achieve this, the kidneys’ approximately 1 million minute filtration units, called glomeruli, first remove both waste products and precious nutrients from the bloodstream. Then, specialized structures known as the proximal tubules reabsorb the “good” molecules — glucose, amino acids, some vitamins, and electrolytes — returning them to the bloodstream. But the reabsorptive functions of the proximal tubules can be compromised by drugs, chemicals, and genetic and blood-borne diseases. Because our understanding of how these effects occur is still limited, researchers have been working to replicate proximal tubes and other kidney structures in the lab so they can better study their functions, screen drugs without testing on humans or animals, and ultimately use them as a foundation to engineer kidney replacements for diseased or damaged...