In our lab we use a wide variety of experimental models to study the pathophysiology of fibrosis and to test the efficacy of putative anti-fibrotic drugs. In order to improve the clinical translatability of our experiments, we continuously strive to establish new models and to improve existing ones. Two recent additions to our toolbox are:

 

1) Human precision-cut kidney slices

PCKS are prepared from functional and macroscopically healthy kidney tissue, and the slices mimic and retain the cellular and architectural complexity of the kidney during culture. Thus, PCKS can be used as a model that reflects the multi-cellular nature of fibrosis directly in human tissue.

 

2) Transdermal measurement of glomerular filtration rate in mice

This technique allows us to monitor changes in the GFR following acute kidney injury, renal ischaemia-reperfusion injury or chronic kidney disease in conscious, freely moving animals.