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Scientists Grow Pig's Heart On Sheep's Neck

Posted by michael on from the wear-your-heart-on-your-sleeve dept.

t0rnt0pieces writes "Yahoo! News reports that Nebraska scientists say they successfully grafted a pig's heart to a sheep by manipulating the immune systems of both animals, a step that may soon allow scientists to grow organs for human transplantation. Trials using pig organs to transplant into humans are on the way. Besides hearts, the technology could be applicable to kidney, liver and pancreatic islet cell transplants. Take a look at a picture of one of the sheep here."

4 of 75 comments (clear)

  1. Re:functional? by Merlin42 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    One step at a time please ...

    I think the point of this experiment was to be able to do interspecies transplants while avoiding rejection, actually replacing the heart would have added one more complication to the experiment that could have confused the results.

    --
    Thoughts on tech, Software Engineering, and stuff
  2. Why are you so negative? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How do you plan to test your immunology theories without doing real research on living things? You don't plan to test them? Fine, go ahead and die your ignorant and natural death but please shut up until then.

  3. Re:Gah? by Bonker · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Mr. Chase, your steady diet of greasy porkrinds and quarterpounders with cheese has finally caught up with you. Your heart is damaged beyond repair. Your only hope of living longer than six months is a full heart transplant. Unfortuneately the waiting list is quite long and you're of a race that typically has very few registered donors. (Ask Asians about transplants...) The prognosis isn't good.

    Fortuneately, we've been doing immune-system research with sheep and pigs that may allow you to use a pig heart in the short... or even long term.

    Now, Mister Chase, do you think that the research is so wrong?

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  4. Re:Nebraska, eh? by AngryPuppy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They're from Nebraska, so what they've done doesn't have significance? The East and West coast folks don't have a monopoly on intelligence or innovation. That heart wasn't held on with bailing wire, Einstein. Whether I agree with it or not, the location has nothing ot do with the significance of the achievement.

    Troll.

    Terry

    Omaha, Nebraska