Development of an artificial kidney medical implant

Abstract

The exponential increase in chronic kidney disease (CKD) is an important public health problem in Brazil and worldwide. Although dialysis and renal transplantation have been used in order to delay end stage of renal failure or even to block the disease progression, the scarcity of donors and the side effects associated with immunosuppressive drugs highlight the requirement of alternatives to treat CKD. Bioengineering and cell therapy are the main fields of investigation in renal regeneration associated with the use of stem cell cultures on tridimensional matrixes, which seems to be an ideal solution for the scarcity of kidneys for renal transplantation. Recently, Rapid Prototyping (RP) technology emerged as powerful method to prepare highly organized and reproducible 3D porous scaffolds. During printing process, we expect to obtain a highly organized hydrogel 3D (pectin) structure with a gradient of properties, and an organized extracellular matrix network and encapsulated cells resembling the 3D morphology of a kidney. Thus, by using this equipment we aim to produce 3D complex organ with a high reliability, without kidney donor requirement. Another promising alternative approach will be tested in this study aiming to create a full kidney: decellularized kidney). The use of different strategies to obtain scaffolds aim to compare structural and functional requirement to identify wich types whichtyp types of scaffolds would be used in experimental orthotropic transplantation. (AU)