When one or both of the kidneys no longer work independently, a person suffers from kidney failure. It is the most severe stage of kidney disease and can be fatal if not treated properly.

Kidney failure can be treated by dialysis or a kidney transplant. Although dialysis is a lifesaving procedure, it can also cause several side effects, such as blood clots, low blood pressure, weight gain, mineral imbalances, infections, etc.

How Does Dialysis Work?

When a person suffers from kidney failure, their kidneys do not filter blood the way they should, building up wastes and toxins in the bloodstream. As a treatment for people with failing kidneys, dialysis works by performing the functions of the kidneys, such as removing waste products and excess fluid from the blood.

There are two types of dialysis, both of which perform normal kidney functions. In hemodialysis, the blood is removed from the body using a machine and is filtered through a dialyzer before being returned to the body. Meanwhile, peritoneal dialysis involves filtering blood by tiny blood vessels inside the patient's abdominal lining with the help of a dialysis solution.

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New Approach to Treat Kidney Failure

Scientists from the University of California - San Francisco (UCSF) tried to address this challenge by developing a new strategy for treating kidney failure, which could free patients from dialysis or the need to take harsh drugs. Their findings are a significant step forward for The Kidney Project, which aims to create a bioartificial kidney to help patients restore their health and quality of life.

In this new approach, the kidney cells are contained in an implantable bioreactor device that works quietly in the background without triggering the immune system. For the first, the researchers have shown that kidney cells can survive inside the body of an animal sample and mimic important kidney functions.

Led by Shuvo Roy from UCSF, the research team engineered the bioreactor to connect it directly to the patient's blood vessels and veins. This allows the nutrients and oxygen to pass, much like a transplanted kidney would. Silicon membranes are also included to keep the kidney cells inside the bioreactor safe from the attack of the immune cells. Eventually, they also plan to fill the bioreactor with various kidney cells with the potential to perform important functions such as releasing hormones to regulate blood pressure and balancing the body's fluids.

For the test case, the scientists used a proximal tubule cell, a type of kidney cell that can regulate water. These cells had been previously used by research co-author H. David Humes from the University of Michigan in helping dialysis patients in the intensive care unit.

After monitoring the transplantation for seven days, the team found that the kidney cells and the recipient animals did well. In the future, the researchers plan to perform month-long trials of testing on other animal recipients and human participants.

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