Vascularization of the kidney. Fate determination and development of the endothelial cells of the embryonic kidney

In my work, I have studied endothelial cells of the fetal kidney. I showed that the CD146 molecule uncovers the precursor cells of the kidney's endothelium. Removal of these cells ablated all vascular structures from the kidney. Still, it did not affect the development of the kidney's secretory tubules. An essential part of my work was the technique enabling the kidney to be dissociated into single cells and aggregated back in tissue after that. The dissociation allowed a defined cellular constitution of the aggregated kidney tissue. Removing all endothelial structures became permanent only if the cells having CD146-molecule were deleted. Instead, eliminating endothelial cells with CD31-molecule led to their rapid regeneration. I demonstrated that the endothelial cells, which had only CD146-molecule but not CD31-molecule, could turn CD31-positive endothelial cells. The results mean that a distinct pool of endothelial cell precursors, marked by CD146-molecule, are present in the fetal kidney. My work sheds light on the early development of the vascular endothelium of the kidney. It also highlights the possibilities of organ culture techniques in the tissue engineering of solid organs.