Scientists have temporarily attached a pig’s kidney to a human body and watched it begin to work. The feat is a small step in the decades-long quest to one day use animal organs for life-saving transplants.
The dream of animal-to-human transplants — or xenotransplantation — goes back to the 17th century with stumbling attempts to use animal blood for transfusions. By the 20th century, surgeons were attempting transplants of organs from baboons into humans, notably Baby Fae, a dying infant, who lived 21 days with a baboon heart.
Pig heart valves also have been used successfully for decades in humans. The blood thinner heparin is derived from pig intestines. Pig skin grafts are used on burns and Chinese surgeons have used pig corneas to restore sight. The pigs lack a gene that produces alpha-gal, the sugar that provokes an immediate attack from the human immune system.in the Revivicor pigs as safe for human food consumption and medicine.
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