An article published on the BBC News website yesterday, April 14th 2013, has shown that researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital have been able to create a laboratory grown kidney. These kidneys have been reported to not be as effective as a normal human kidney, but there have been steps towards engineering the kidneys so they become more effective. The researchers have engineered these kidneys and transplanted them in rats to see if and how effective they are. Outside of the rats the kidneys had an effective rate of production of urine at about 23%. After the kidneys were transplanted into the rats the effectiveness fell to about 5%. Even though there was a low effectiveness rates in rats there is still more research that can be done to engineer the kidneys so that the effectiveness rates increase to where the kidneys can be eventually transplanted in humans.
I think that this article is fascinating because the kidney is one of the most complex organs humans have. There have been waiting lists for kidneys through out America and the world. There are about 100,000 people on these waiting lists and only 18,000 kidney transplants done each year. If these researchers can engineer kidneys in a laboratory and figure out how to make them more effective in the human body, then many lives can be saved each year. Also with these engineered kidneys, people wouldn't have to take as many medications that they would usually take if they had a transplant donor. This study and forward advancement in medical science could truly help so many people and change many peoples lives.
The rat kidney
References:
1. Gallagher, James. "Scientists Make 'laboratory-grown' Kidney." BBC News. BBC, 14 Apr. 2013. Web. 15 Apr. 2013.
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