Department of Internal Medicine, Chair of Nephrology, University of Messina, Italy.
Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci. 2011 Feb;15(2):111-21.
Because of progressive population ageing and epidemic diffusion of type 2 diabetes mellitus in industrialized Countries, we are attending a growing incidence of end stage renal disease. This phenomenon has induced researchers to study potential alternative methods of renal function replacement. Actually, only dialytic methodics and renal transplant make possible survival of patients with terminal uremia, but both these therapeutic approaches show important limitations. The ideal solution would be represented by the possibility to "regenerate" the injured organ. This is the purpose of Regenerative Nephrology, a new medical domain which tries to develop new therapies through stimulation and induction in humans of regenerative processes already observed in other species, like reptiles and fishes. Such an ambitious and fascinating purpose requires a deep knowledge of the intricate networks which regulate the production of the hormones and mediators involved in the tissue regenerative processes. In this field the kidney embryonic development phases can represent a fundamental study model to acquire information about the reparative mechanisms of the structure and function of this excretory organ.
由于工业化国家人口老龄化和 2 型糖尿病流行的进展，我们正面临终末期肾病发病率的上升。这种现象促使研究人员研究肾功能替代的潜在替代方法。实际上，只有透析方法和肾移植才能使终末期尿毒症患者存活，但这两种治疗方法都存在重要的局限性。理想的解决方案是有可能“再生”受损器官。这就是再生肾病学的目的，这是一个新的医学领域，试图通过在人类中刺激和诱导已经在其他物种（如爬行动物和鱼类）中观察到的再生过程来开发新的疗法。这样一个雄心勃勃和迷人的目标需要深入了解调节组织再生过程中激素和介质产生的复杂网络。在这一领域中，肾脏胚胎发育阶段可以作为一个基本的研究模型，以获得有关该排泄器官结构和功能修复机制的信息。
