Surgeons attached a pig liver externally to a brain-dead human body and observed how well it filtered blood. This was a step towards finally testing the technique on patients with liver failure.
The University of Pennsylvania on Thursday announced a new experiment that looks at animal-to-human organ transplants in a different light.
In this case, the pig's liver was used externally rather than internally within the donated body. Similar to dialysis for malfunctioning kidneys, this method creates a “bridge” to support the malfunctioning liver by purifying the blood in the organ from the outside.
Transplants from animals to humans, called xenotransplants, have failed for decades because people's immune systems rejected the foreign tissue.
Now, scientists are repeating the experiment using genetically modified pigs to make their organs more human-like.
In recent years, kidneys from genetically modified pigs have been temporarily transplanted into brain-dead donors to see how well they function, and two men have received heart transplants from pigs. He also died within a few months.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is considering whether to allow the small number of Americans in need of new organs to volunteer in rigorous studies of pig hearts or kidneys.
Some researchers are considering using pig liver.
The liver has a different complexity than the kidneys or heart. It filters blood, removes waste products, and produces substances needed for other body functions.
Approximately 10,000 people are currently on waiting lists for liver transplants in the United States.
In Penn's experiment, researchers attached a pig liver (genetically modified by EGenesis) to a device made by OrganOx, which typically helps preserve donated human livers before transplantation. .
The families of the deceased, who were not suitable for organ donation, donated their bodies for research.
The machine maintained blood circulation in the body.
In the experiment, conducted last month, blood was filtered through a pig liver device for 72 hours.
Penn's research team reported in a statement that the donor's body was stable and the pig's liver showed no signs of damage.
There has been a lot of research into developing machines similar to liver dialysis, and experiments using pig livers were attempted many years ago, but new experiments were needed before the advent of today's more advanced genetic techniques. said Dr. Parsia Vagefi of UT Southwestern Medical Center, who was not involved. We are closely monitoring xenotransplant studies.
“I applaud them for pushing this forward,” Bajeffi said, calling this combined pig-device approach an interesting step in the effort to better care for liver failure.
