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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."

5 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.
    1. Re:As a biologist let me say... by TubeSteak · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Neato. If this could be applied to human hearts, this could significantly open the options organ recipients have to save their lives.

      I'm more interested in how this will effect the international market for organs.
      Usually you have to go there, or the donor has to come here.
      But if this translates to human physiology, organ trafficking will become a real problem.

      --
      [Fuck Beta]
      o0t!
    2. Re:As a biologist let me say... by MartinSchou · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And faster cars make it easier for criminals to get away from crime scenes.
      And cash make it easier for criminals to hide their tracks.
      And RFID embedded into the underside of the skull at birth would make it easier to track down criminals later in life.

      A lot of the technology we have available or will develop in the foreseeable future has the potential to be used in bad ways. That doesn't mean we should stop developing them.

  2. THEY SAVED HITLER'S BRAIN! by Philip+K+Dickhead · · Score: 5, Funny

    As Stephen King once claimed, "I seem monstrous to some, but I have the heart of a child.

    I keep it in a jar, on my desk..."

    --
    "Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act." -- George Orwell
  3. Here's what's in it by Yergle143 · · Score: 5, Informative

    From the paper it's a modification of something called GALA solution.
    Compenent mmol/L g/L
    Distilled water, L 1.00
    Calcium chloride 1.30 0.191
    Potassium chloride 7.00 0.522
    Potassium phosphate (monobasic) 0.44 0.060
    Magnesium chloride (hexahydrate) 0.50 0.101
    Magnesium sulfate (heptahydrate) 0.50 0.123
    Sodium chloride 125.00 7.31
    Sodium bicarbonate 5.00 0.420
    Sodium phosphate (dibasic; heptahydrate) 0.19 0.05
    d-Glucose 11.00 1.982
    Glutathione (reduced) 1.50 0.461
    Ascorbic acid 1.00 0.176
    l-Arginine 5.00 1.073
    l-Citrulline malate 1.00 0.175
    Adenosine 2.00 0.534
    Creatine orotate 0.50 0.274
    Creatine monohydrate 2.00 0.298
    l-Carnosine 10.00 2.26
    l-Carnitine 10.00 2.00
    Dichloroacetate 0.50 0.075
    Insulin 10 mg/mL, mL/L 1.00
    pH is adjusted to 7.5 with sodium bicarbonate or Tris-hydroxymethyl aminomethane at desired temperature.

    Bunch of salts.
    These aren't complex proteinaceous molecules. I am interested in the presence of dichloroacetate because that was the anti-cancer molecule reported
    by slashdot just yesterday.
    http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=10/05/13/2117203

    Now all you hackers planning to preserve human hearts don't you use this formula without citing the good Doctor Thatte.
    Please mod me up for my chemical knowhow