Abstract
Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting is an evolving technique that is expected to revolutionize the field of regenerative medicine. Since the organ donation does not meet the demands for transplantable organs, it is important to think of another solution, which may and most likely will be provided by the technology of 3D bioprinting. However, even smaller parts of the printed renal tissue may be of help, e.g. in developing better drugs. Some simple tissues such as cartilage have been printed with success, but a lot of work is still required to successfully 3D bioprint complex organs such as the kidneys. However, few obstacles still persist such as the vascularization and the size of the printed organ. Nevertheless, many pieces of the puzzle are already available and it is just a matter of time to connect them together and 3D bioprint the kidneys. The 3D bioprinting technology provides the precision and fast speed required for generating organs. In this review, we describe the recent developments in the field of developmental biology concerning the kidneys; characterize the bioinks available for printing and suitable for kidney printing; present the existing printers and possible printing strategies. Moreover, we identify the most difficult challenges in printing of the kidneys and propose a solution, which may lead to successful bioprinting of the kidney.
Highlights
Every year, and only in Europe, 86,000 patients are added to the waiting lists for organ transplantations and majority of them (81%) need kidney transplants [1]
Nephrons formed in these organoids presented a glomerular tuft-like structure connecting with the proximal tubules (LTL+), which connected with the distal tubule, which in the case of Takasato protocol, was connected with the ureter structures; some presented the markers of the loop of Henle [31]
The fabrication of 3D tissue constructs became feasible with the invention of laser-assisted bioprinting as an extension of matrix-assisted pulsed-laser evaporation (MAPLE)
Summary
Only in Europe, 86,000 patients are added to the waiting lists for organ transplantations and majority of them (81%) need kidney transplants [1]. The MM cells form condensates known as the cap MM, which undergo polarization and epithelialization processes, leading to the formation of renal vesicles, which develop into Comma- and S-shaped bodies. The latter elongates and forms nephrons with glomeruli at the apical site, while the distal site connects with the UB. The dissociated kidney cells can form renal organoids, cell aggregates that contain more than one type of renal cells [17,18] These organoids become vascularized upon transplantation under the kidney capsule of nephrectomized athymic rats [19], and generate glomeruli with functional podocytes [20]. We broadly present all main features and requirements for 3D bioprinting of the kidneys, and optimistically look into the future, where 3D bioprinting is no longer a hype but hope for many kidney patients
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