Patent ID: 7074552

Claim:
A method for constructing a mammalian tissue or a fragment thereof in vitro, comprising: (a) culturing and propagating embryonic epithelial-derived explants, tissue or cells comprising: (i) isolating the tissues or cells and growing them in culture, (ii) permitting the tissue or cells to form multiple branches, (iii) dissecting out individual branch tips, (iv) culturing the individual branch tips in the presence of nutrient medium, serum, at least one growth factor, and BSN-conditioned medium (BSN-CM) on an extracellular matrix (ECM) gel for several generations to generate branch tip buds; (b) culturing and propagating isolated embryonic or fetal metanephric mesenchyme comprising: (i) dissecting out embryonic or fetal metanephric mesenchyme at the time of induction, (ii) culturing the embryonic or fetal metanephric mesenchymal tissue in the presence of nutrient medium, serum, at least one growth factor, and BSN-CM, (iii) partitioning mesenchyme into multiple pieces and culturing each piece separately, and (iv) inducing vasculogenesis by subjecting cultured mesenchyme to substrate deprivation or addition of soluble growth factors; (c) combining each vascularized mesenchyme with each cultured branch tip bud in a matrix in which in vitro angiogenesis has begun such that the mesenchyme and tip bud are in close contact; and (d) culturing the combined tissue under conditions to ensure continued cell growth to obtain a vascularized mammalian tissue, wherein the at least one growth factor comprises glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF).