Apical Microvilli of a Hybrid HIPSC-Derived Proximal Tubule Microtissue React To Flow-Induced Shear Stress in a Microphysiological System

We report on morphological improvements associated with perfusion-induced shear force in a hybrid proximal tubule epithelial microtissue. In particular, the density and length of apical microvilli, as well as the height of proximal tubule cells isolated from human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived kidney organoids and cocultured with immortalized cells were increased under a minuscule shear stress of 0.06 dyn cm
^–2
. Such enhancements were manifested in improved filtration performance of the endothelial tissue. Alongside, we show how proximity with epithelial cells densified the microfeatures under static culture condition. Our findings are useful in examining the transduction pathways involved in cellular maturation owing to machinal stimuli and paracrine signaling.