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Early Kidney Specification and Its Recapitulation by Pluripotent Stem Cells

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Organ Regeneration Based on Developmental Biology

Abstract

Successful generation of the kidney from pluripotent stem cells is challenging because of insufficient knowledge of the underlying developmental processes. In addition to the technical difficulties of physically examining the early stages of embryogenesis, the unique features surrounding the development of the kidney from three distinct primordia hamper a more complete understanding of the relevant cell fate acquisition mechanisms. We have recently addressed these issues by combining in vivo lineage tracing experiments and ex vivo directed differentiation culture systems. Our strategy has revealed the mechanism by which the kidney morphogenic field is patterned along the anteroposterior axis and also identified the key signals which promote posteriorization, specification, and maturation of nephron progenitors from pluripotent stem cells. Importantly, these newly identified biological insights have enabled the production of three-dimensional complex nephron structure from both mouse and human pluripotent stem cells, which would be a big progress toward the realization of kidney regenerative medicine.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Kidney Development, Institute of Molecular Embryology and Genetics, Kumamoto University, 2-2-1 Honjo, Kumamoto, 860-0811, Japan

    Atsuhiro Taguchi & Ryuichi Nishinakamura

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  1. Atsuhiro Taguchi
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  2. Ryuichi Nishinakamura
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Correspondence to Ryuichi Nishinakamura .

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  1. Laboratory for Organ Regeneration, RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan

    Takashi Tsuji

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Taguchi, A., Nishinakamura, R. (2017). Early Kidney Specification and Its Recapitulation by Pluripotent Stem Cells. In: Tsuji, T. (eds) Organ Regeneration Based on Developmental Biology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3768-9_9

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