For the first time in the world, doctors managed to carry out the most complex operation of interspecies transplantation of an organ from one animal to another - from a member of the artiodactyl family to monkeys.
Previously, such an operation was considered impossible due to the fact that usually the tissues of the transplanted organ did not take root in the recipient's body. The first such attempt was carried out by doctors back in 1994, but was unsuccessful. Now the monkey has received a heart transplant from a cloned pig named Xeno, whose genes have been modified to prevent rejection. The primate heart Xeno, according to the doctors, had to "fit".
“We have been preparing for this event for several years,” admitted the doctor of the South Korean clinic, Lim Jio-Bin, who is responsible for the scientific experiment. - Leading specialists from four medical universities, as well as representatives of several research centers from all over the country, took part in the operation, which was historic for science.
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According to the doctor, the expensive operation was fully funded by the state.
“Our discovery is a serious step towards the development of world medicine,” say the discoverers. “In the future, it will help to achieve great success in veterinary medicine and save the lives of rare species of animals in dire need of transplantation.
South Korean specialists also consider their successful experiment a way out of the situation when there are not enough human organs for transplantation. The main obstacle to this is the rejection of organs of a different type by a person. Pig organs are well suited for transplantation, but they contain molecules that cause severe abnormalities in the human body. The pig Xeno was just "knocked out" the gene that reproduces these molecules.