Revolutionizing Surgery: Successful Fetal Kidney Transplant in Japan Raises Hope for Future Organ Transplantations

2024-04-30 21:51:51

A team of surgeons in Japan has achieved the first successful transplant of kidney tissue into rat fetuses inside the mother’s womb. The technique that allowed animals to get a new kidney represents an advance for human surgeries in the future. The intervention led by nephrologist Takashi Yokoo, from the Jikei University School of Medicine, in Tokyo, introduced a “proto-kidney” to several fetuses while they were in the gestation process. The tissue from another embryo developed naturally until it formed a structure capable of produce urine.

Yokoo states that the internal and external kidney structures confirmed a mature organ. Even the fetuses’ blood vessels grew in the donated tissue. But even though the puppies were born alive, their kidneys never connected to the urinary system. The organ was observed for several weeks while the urine it generated was extracted.

Scientists created a six-legged mouse to understand more regarding the “primordial structures” of embryos

The deactivation of a gene in the middle of a mouse’s embryonic development resulted in the genitals transforming into a new pair of limbs.

For the procedure, the Japanese team transplanted nine fetuses into four pregnant rats. Of all, only eight received a new kidney. To easily find the tissue that came from the donor embryo, they used a genetic technique to express green-staining proteins. This form of recognition is often used in transplant experiments, as recently happened with chimaera monkey.

The study also revealed that organs grafted into fetuses have a lower rejection rate compared to grafts into adult rats. Therefore, surgical intervention in the early stages of embryonic development It is the most effective way to correct organ failure, at least in mammals. Japan surgery results are available at server bioRxiv; They are still awaiting peer review.

Xenotransplantation in fetuses and adults

The technique that Yokoo now implemented will one day try to combat Potter syndrome. This is a strange condition where a human fetus does not develop functional kidneys, so the person dies within hours of birth. The genetic mechanism that prevents the development of the vital organ is unknown, but early detection through ultrasound will mobilize doctors to insert tissue in the place where it is missing, experts believe.

Medical science relies on xenotransplants to treat human conditions related to internal organs and donor shortages. The most striking cases in recent years are pig heart, liver and kidney transplants. The operations have been successful, but monitoring of each individual case shows that there is still a long way to go.

For example, Lawrence Faucette, The second person who received a pig heart died six weeks following undergoing the experimental procedure. The news was a severe blow to the field of xenotransplantation since the organ was operated with at least 10 genetic modifications to avoid the likelihood of rejection.

On the other hand, the first patient received one pig kidney transplantation He had no complications in the process, although his monitoring will continue over the following months. Faced with the avalanche of xenotransplants, surgeons remain positive regarding their use in the coming decades.

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