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The article "Advances in Organoid Research and Developmental Engineering" published in Bioengineering (Basel) discusses the significant growth of organoid research in biomedical science, with a notable increase in research articles from 189 in 2014 to 3899 in 2024. The Special Issue highlights various studies, including advancements in organoid imaging technologies, the potential therapeutic application of brimonidine in glaucoma treatment, and the development of innovative models for cancer research and organ development. These studies showcase the progress being made in organoid research and emphasize the importance of integrating organoid models with advanced analysis platforms and artificial intelligence for translational research and therapeutic applications in regenerative medicine and disease modeling. [Extracted from the article]

During early developmental stages, embryonic kidneys are not fully vascularized and are potentially exposed to hypoxic conditions, which is known to influence cell proliferation and survival, ureteric bud branching, and vascularization of the developing kidney. To optimize the culture conditions of in vitro cultured kidneys and gain further insight into the effect of hypoxia on kidney development, we exposed mouse embryonic kidneys isolated at E11.5, E12.5, and E13.5 to hypoxic and normal culture conditions and compared ureteric bud branching patterns, the growth of the progenitor subpopulation hoxb7+, and the expression patterns of progenitor and differentiation markers. Branching patterns were quantified using whole organ confocal imaging and gradient-vector-based analysis. In our model, hypoxia causes an earlier expression of UB tip cell markers, and a delay in stalk cell marker gene expression. The metanephric mesenchyme (MM) exhibited a later expression of differentiation marker FGF8, marking a delay in nephron formation. Hypoxia further delayed the expression of stroma cell progenitor markers, a delay in cortical differentiation markers, as well as an earlier expression of medullary and ureteral differentiation markers. We conclude that standard conditions do not apply universally and that tissue engineering strategies need to optimize suitable culture conditions for each application. We also conclude that adapting culture conditions to specific aspects of organ development in tissue engineering can help to improve individual stages of tissue generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]