title: The origin of the mammalian kidney: implications for recreating the kidney in vitro.
abstract: The mammalian kidney, the metanephros, is a mesodermal organ classically regarded as arising from the intermediate mesoderm (IM). Indeed, both the ureteric bud (UB), which gives rise to the ureter and the collecting ducts, and the metanephric mesenchyme (MM), which forms the rest of the kidney, derive from the IM. Based on an understanding of the signalling molecules crucial for IM patterning and kidney morphogenesis, several studies have now generated UB or MM, or both, in vitro via the directed differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells. Although these results support the IM origin of the UB and the MM, they challenge the simplistic view of a common progenitor for these two populations, prompting a reanalysis of early patterning events within the IM. Here, we review our understanding of the origin of the UB and the MM in mouse, and discuss how this impacts on kidney regeneration strategies and furthers our understanding of human development.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia.
authors.forename: Minoru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takasato
authors.affiliation: Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia melissa.little@mcri.edu.au.
authors.forename: Melissa H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Little
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019521:Body Patterning; D006801:Humans; D007668:Kidney / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology*; D008322:Mammals / Q000196:embryology*; D008648:Mesoderm / Q000196:embryology; D009924:Organ Culture Techniques; D038081:Organogenesis
keywords: Directed differentiation; Kidney development; Mesoderm; Nephrogenic mesenchyme; Pluripotent stem cell; Stem cells; Ureteric bud