Researchers Keep Pig Heart Beating In Baboon Belly For 2 Years (arstechnica.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Researchers report Tuesday that they were able to keep pig hearts alive and beating in the abdomens of five baboons for record amounts of time -- a median of 298 days and a max of 945 days. Previous benchmarks were set at a median of 180 and a max of 500 days, respectively. Currently in the US, 22 people die every day just waiting for organs, which are in constant short supply. To help solve the problem, researchers turned to pigs years ago to see if they could lend useful organs or at least provide temporary "bridge" tissue to those on wait-lists. Pigs were a good fit mainly because their organs' sizes are similar to that of human's. In early studies, successful survival time in pig-to-primate transplants, generally called xenotransplants, were measured in minutes. The swine substitutes naturally have a molecular marker, called alpha 1-3-galactosyltransferase (gal), which triggers deadly blood clots in primates. In the new study, researchers at the National Institutes of Health and colleagues, tweaked the approach; they engineered the gal-knock out pigs to have extra anti-clotting genetic features and used an antibody to selectively shut down the part of the primate's immune system that responds to pig organs. To avoid needlessly killing the baboons and doing extensive surgery, the researchers opted to transplant the pig hearts into the baboon's abdomens, leaving the primates' hearts in place. In the abdomen, the pig tickers hooked up to circulatory system and beat for a record-breaking amount of time.

Comments

Re:Scientists playing GOD

[Locke2005]

He saved Lot from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorah, and Lot went on to get both his daughters pregnant while he was living in a cave... but that's ok, because he was drunk at the time! So, since Lot is one of the HEROES of the Old Testament, that means what Trump wants to do to his own daughter is ok, right? Where was I going with this... you wonder where people get all these perverted ideas from? The Bible is certainly one source...

Re:Scientists playing GOD

[Locke2005]

Oh wait, here was the point: why did Sodom get two sex acts named after it, but Gomorah didn't get any? Because whenever the newspaper says somebody was arrested for sodomy, I always ask, "Can you be more specific?"