In a world first, scientists have successfully recreated the adrenal gland in a petri dish. The achievement, reported in the journal Nature, opens the door to a new era of research into adrenal diseases.
The adrenal gland is a small, but important, endocrine gland that sits atop the kidney. It produces a range of hormones that regulate many crucial bodily functions, such as blood pressure, metabolism and the stress response.
Adrenal diseases are relatively rare, but can be extremely debilitating. They are often difficult to diagnose and treat, due to the complexity of the adrenal gland and its many functions.
The ability to recreate the adrenal gland in a dish opens up a range of new possibilities for researchers. With this model, they can study the development and function of the adrenal gland in unprecedented detail. Additionally, it could be used to screen new drugs for the treatment of adrenal diseases.
The work was led by scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine, in collaboration with researchers at the University of California, San Francisco.
“This is a really important advance,” said Dr. Bruce R. Conklin, a professor of medicine at UCSF, who was not involved in the study. “It’s a new way to study the adrenal gland, and it has lots of potential applications.”
The ability to recreate the adrenal gland was made possible by advances in stem cell biology. The researchers used a type of stem cell called an induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC).
iPSCs are derived from adult cells, but have the ability to differentiate into any cell type in the body. This makes them an ideal tool for studying developmental processes and diseases.
To create the adrenal gland, the researchers first generated iPSCs from skin cells taken from patients with adrenal diseases. These cells were then differentiated into various types of adrenal cells, including the hormone-producing cells.
The cells were then assembled into a three-dimensional structure that resembles the native adrenal gland. This “adrenal gland-on-a-chip” was then transplanted into mice, where it functioned normally.
“Our organ-on-a-chip technology provides a new platform to study adrenal physiology and disease,” said study senior author Dr. Alan W. Shindel, an assistant professor of urology at Stanford.
“This is just the beginning,” he added. “Our goal is to use this platform to develop new treatments for adrenal diseases.”
The adrenal gland is a small, but important, endocrine gland that sits atop the kidney. It produces a range of hormones that regulate many crucial bodily functions, such as blood pressure, metabolism and the stress response.
Adrenal diseases are relatively rare, but can be extremely debilitating. They are often difficult to diagnose and treat, due to the complexity of the adrenal gland and its many functions.
The ability to recreate the adrenal gland in a dish opens up a range of new possibilities for researchers. With this model, they can study the development and function of the adrenal gland in unprecedented detail. Additionally, it could be used to screen new drugs for the treatment of adrenal diseases.
The work was led by scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine, in collaboration with researchers at the University of California, San Francisco.
“This is a really important advance,” said Dr. Bruce R. Conklin, a professor of medicine at UCSF, who was not involved in the study. “It’s a new way to study the adrenal gland, and it has lots of potential applications.”
The ability to recreate the adrenal gland was made possible by advances in stem cell biology. The researchers used a type of stem cell called an induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC).
iPSCs are derived from adult cells, but have the ability to differentiate into any cell type in the body. This makes them an ideal tool for studying developmental processes and diseases.
To create the adrenal gland, the researchers first generated iPSCs from skin cells taken from patients with adrenal diseases. These cells were then differentiated into various types of adrenal cells, including the hormone-producing cells.
The cells were then assembled into a three-dimensional structure that resembles the native adrenal gland. This “adrenal gland-on-a-chip” was then transplanted into mice, where it functioned normally.
“Our organ-on-a-chip technology provides a new platform to study adrenal physiology and disease,” said study senior author Dr. Alan W. Shindel, an assistant professor of urology at Stanford.
“This is just the beginning,” he added. “Our goal is to use this platform to develop new treatments for adrenal diseases.”
In 2008, Japanese scientists took a big step toward helping those with adrenal insufficiency, a condition in which the adrenal gland doesn’t produce enough of the hormone cortisol. They grew functional adrenal cells in a petri dish for the first time.
Since then, several research groups have succeeded in growing other types of adrenal cells in the lab, furthering the possibility that one day, people with adrenal insufficiency could be treated with Replacement adrenal cells grown in a lab.
The adrenal gland sits on top of the kidneys and produces hormones that help the body respond to stress. One of these hormones is cortisol, which helps regulate blood sugar levels and metabolism.
Adrenal insufficiency can be caused by a number of conditions, including autoimmune diseases like Addison’s disease, which occurs when the body attacks the adrenal gland.
Currently, the only treatment for adrenal insufficiency is hormone replacement therapy, which involves taking supplemental cortisol. However, this treatment isn’t ideal because it can cause side effects like weight gain and high blood pressure.
replacing the damaged adrenal gland with a healthy one from a donor is the gold standard treatment, but it’s not always possible to find a suitable donor.
This is where lab-grown adrenal cells could come in. In the 2008 study, scientists took adrenal cells from rats and grew them in a petri dish. They found that the cells continued to function and produce cortisol even when they were removed from the rat and grown in the lab.
Other researchers have since grown human adrenal cells in the lab. In a 2016 study, scientists were able to grow functional human adrenal cells from induced pluripotent stem cells, which are created from adult cells that have been “reprogrammed” to an embryonic state.
These studies provide proof of concept that it may one day be possible to grow replacement adrenal cells in the lab for people with adrenal insufficiency. However, there’s still a long way to go before this becomes a reality.
The cells need to be further studied to ensure that they are safe and effective. Additionally, it’s not clear how the cells would be transplanted into the body.
Nonetheless, these studies represent an important step toward developing a new treatment for adrenal insufficiency that could one day improve the lives of many people.
