In the future, a pig donor organ may be used for human heart transplantation.
American specialists from the National Institutes of Health have been working for 10 years to improve the technology of human heart transplantation.
As an experiment, scientists transplanted a pig's heart into a baboon. It happened 2.5 years ago and, according to the experimenters, the transplanted organ functions perfectly in the primate's body.
Previously, similar experiments have already been carried out, but specialists were unable to cope with the rejection of the transplanted heart.
Now this problem has been solved. It is known that a genetically modified heart was used during the operation. Together with the organ, during the operation, drugs were used that suppressed the immune system and did not allow the heart to be rejected.
After a certain time, it became clear that the heart was engrafted and the immune system did not perceive it as a foreign object.
Scientists do not plan to be satisfied with what has already been achieved and intend to conduct a similar experiment with a baboon, and then proceed to operations on humans.
I must say that if such transplants are allowed, it will be a salvation for many people who have been waiting for a donor heart for years, but do not always wait.
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