Zanetti, F.
The kidneys control the body’s balance of fluids and eliminate waste products by regulating the mechanisms of filtration, reabsorption, and secretion. These processes are the main factors in the development of drug-induced kidney diseases. Developing drugs with low nephrotoxic potential would minimize kidney injury; however with the current preclinical research tools available, the toxic potential of candidate compounds is often underestimated. A model that closely resembles the human situation would enable a more accurate prediction of drug-induced nephrotoxicity and reduce the number of animals used in preclinical testing. A kidney-on-a-chip model is the combination of a kidney model (ideally a 3D model) with a platform recreating the microenvironment or structure of the kidney in vivo. This technology promises to overcome the drawbacks of animal models and more accurately resembles the properties of the kidney in vitro and identify drug effects and drug-induced nephrotoxicity.
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