For the first time, scientists have grown kidneys containing human cells inside pigs
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Chinese scientists have for the first time grown kidneys from mostly human cells inside pigs. Scientists have created embryos containing both human and pig cells, reports Science Alert and The Guardian. Then they implanted the embryos into sows. Fetuses growing inside “surrogate mothers” developed kidneys that contained mostly human cells. Such “hybrid” organs open the prospect of growing fully human organs inside animals for future transplants. Read also: Artificial embryos without sperm and eggs: scientists revealed the details of the experiment. Illustrative photo: Baloncici/Depositphotos The research was conducted by Chinese scientists who shared the results in the journal Cell Stem Cell on September 7. This is the first successful experiment of such a plan in the world. “Rat organs have been grown in mice, and mouse organs have been grown in rats, but previous attempts to grow human organs in pigs have not been successful. Our approach improves the integration of human cells into the recipient’s tissues and allows the growth of human organs in pigs,” said Liansue, the head of the study. Lai from the Guangzhou Institute of Biomedicine and Health. The kidneys were not fully human, as they had vessels and nerves made mostly of pig cells. This means that they cannot be used for transplantation in their current form. Currently, it is not known whether it will be possible to create a fully human organ using modern methods of genetic engineering. Professor Dushko Ilić, a stem cell researcher at King’s College London, who was not involved in the study, called the work groundbreaking but said any clinical application was not yet possible. At the same time, scientists have taken innovative steps in the approach to organ bioengineering. Pigs were actually used as an incubator for growing and cultivating human organs. Dushko believes that this strategy deserves further study. To create the hybrid embryos, the team used CRISPR gene editing to remove two genes needed for kidney formation in the pig embryo, creating a so-called “niche.” Then they filled it with specially prepared human pluripotent stem cells (they have the potential to develop into any type of cell). Before the embryos were implanted in sows, they were grown in test tubes with substances that nourished both human and pig cells. In total, scientists transferred 1,820 embryos to 13 surrogate mothers. At 4 weeks, the pregnancy was terminated to evaluate how the experiment worked. Five embryos selected for analysis had functionally normal kidneys for their stage of development. They also began to grow ureters, which eventually were to connect the kidneys with the bladder. The kidneys contained 50-60% human cells. It will be recalled that earlier surgeons from New York transplanted a pig’s kidney into a brain-dead person. The transplant took root, so scientists hope that in the future such operations will be able to help living patients. Read also: In Spain, for the first time in the world, a fully robotic lung transplant was performed
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