Soft, Dynamic Hydrogel Confinement Improves Kidney Organoid Lumen Morphology and Reduces Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition in Culture.

ABSTRACT: Pluripotent stem cell-derived kidney organoids offer a promising solution to renal failure, yet current organoid protocols often lead to off-target cells and phenotypic alterations, preventing maturity. Here, various dynamic hydrogel architectures are created, conferring a controlled and biomimetic environment for organoid encapsulation. How hydrogel stiffness and stress relaxation affect renal phenotype and undesired fibrotic markers are investigated. The authors observe that stiff hydrogel encapsulation leads to an absence of certain renal cell types and signs of an epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), whereas encapsulation in soft, stress-relaxing hydrogels leads to all major renal segments, fewer fibrosis or EMT associated proteins, apical proximal tubule polarization, and primary

SUBMITTER: Ruiter FAA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9284132 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature