A group of scientists at the University of San Francisco in California has developed a device that can mimic key kidney functions, such as balancing body fluids and releasing hormones to regulate blood pressure. The implant works on the basis of kidney cells and can work together with a second device to filter waste products from the blood.
The ‘artificial kidney’ is designed in such a way that it can connect directly to blood vessels, so that it can fulfill the same function as a healthy (transplanted) kidney or kidney dialysis.
The first tests on laboratory animals are very promising. The pigs that received an implant were closely monitored for seven days, and both the implanted kidney cells and the animals themselves performed well. “We didn’t run into any complications and can now scale up, hoping to replicate the full range of kidney functions on a human scale,” said one of the researchers.
In a next phase, the trial period will be extended to a month, first on animals, and then, if everything goes well, the first tests on humans will also be carried out.
2023-08-30 17:04:49
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