Scientists temporarily attached a pig’s kidney to a human body and watched it begin to work, a small step in the decades-long quest to one day use animal organs for life-saving transplants. Surgeons attached the pig kidney to a pair of large blood vessels outside the body of a deceased recipient so they could observe it for two days. The kidney did what it was supposed to do – filter waste and produce urine – and didn’t trigger rejection. 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. 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. Several biotech companies are in the running to develop suitable pig organs for transplant to help ease the human organ shortage. In December, the Food and Drug Administration approved the gene alteration in the Revivicor pigs as safe for human food consumption and medicine. But the FDA said developers would need to submit more paperwork before pig organs could be transplanted into living humans. This is an important step forward in realizing the promise of xenotransplantation, which will save thousands of lives each year in the not-too-distant future.
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