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Chemical Cocktail Can Keep a Heart Viable 10 Days, Outside the Body

Posted by timothy on from the with-very-few-exceptions-not-a-worm dept.

nj_peeps writes "Harvard professor Hemant Thatte has developed a cocktail of 21 chemical compounds that he calls Somah, derived from the Sanskrit for 'ambrosia of rejuvenation.' Using Somah, Thatte and his team have accomplished some amazing feats with pig hearts. They can keep the organ viable for transplant up to 10 days after harvest — far longer than the four-hour limit seen in hospitals today. Not only that, but using low temperatures and Somah, they were able to take a pig heart that was removed post mortem and get it to beat 24 hours later in the lab."

2 of 97 comments (clear)

  1. As a biologist let me say... by wizardforce · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Neato. If this could be applied to human hearts, this could significantly open the options organ recipients have to save their lives. Perhaps even expand what kind of medical procedures that could be done on the human heart that may be limited by how long the heart can be kept viable outside the body.

    --
    Sigs are too short to say anything truly profound so read the above post instead.
  2. Hydrogen Sulfide by harley78 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Along with research done by Mark Roth with H2S, this could save lots of people.