ABSTRACT
Objective To induce embryonic stem cells (ESCs) to differentiate into the renal cells in vitro and to spontaneously form the kidney-like structures including glomerular, proximal tubules, distal tubules and vascular network. Methods ESCs were cultured to 40%-50% of confluence. Under the action of cytokine FGF9 and CHIR99021,the differentiation of ESCs was induced to form a kidney-like structure, which was examined by im-munofluorescence staining and electron microscopy to observe its internal structures and take photo-images. Results Through the action of cytokine FGF9 and CHIR99021, ESCs can be induced to differentiate into renal like struc-tures containing glomerular, proximal tubules, distal tubules and vascular network, which were confirmed by the structural identification. Conclusions The kidney-like structure generated by the differentiation of ESCs contains complete renal units and vascular network,which is similar to the normal kidney.