By Stuart Fox Posted 02.11.2010 at 12:35 pm 19 Comments

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With the world facing an organ shortage so serious that the majority of potential transplant recipients die while on waiting lists, doctors have looked to similarly sized animal organs as a potential alternative to human donations. Unfortunately, the human body swiftly rejects animal organs. Animal lungs have proven especially problematic, as they stop functioning as soon as they com in contact with human blood.

Now, researchers at Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, have used genetically modified pig lungs to successfully pump human blood. Since pig organs are essentially the same size and shape as human organs, this advance could drastically increase the number of lungs available for transplant.

The lungs themselves were created at St. Vincent's Hospital, also in Melbourne. There, doctors removed DNA, known as the Gal gene, known to hinder inter-species compatibility. At Alfred Hospital, the doctors hooked the lungs up to artificial breathing machines, and watched as deoxygenated human blood pumped through the pig lungs, and came out oxygen rich on the other end.

However, even though this advance represents a series leap forward, the scientists themselves to expect to begin clinical trials of the new technique for at least another five to ten years.

[AFP]

19 Comments

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gracilism
02/11/10 at 2:27 pm

Seems to me that this technique would be a good way to create a new super virus (ala HIV).

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drbsmith
02/11/10 at 4:01 pm

Robert M. Smith, MD, PhD

Just a minor comment. Ah, lungs don't "pump" blood. Ya might want to change that in yer article.

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animemaster
02/11/10 at 5:18 pm

I would think an early application might be a heart long bypass machine that is not so hard on the blood.

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animemaster
02/11/10 at 5:19 pm

Lung*

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genedoug
02/11/10 at 10:23 pm

I don't think the pigs will view this as good news.

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Dungeonbrownies
02/12/10 at 4:17 am

@drbsmith Even on pop sci theyre not careful with science reporting. Having basic knowledge of science (im talking about me) just seems to make blogs and news more and more painful to read -_-;

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powq33
02/12/10 at 10:01 am

@drbsmith: It didn't say that the lungs pumped the blood, just that blood was pumped through the lungs. The sentence structure is a little off, but they never suggested that the lungs pumped the blood. It would be more clear if it were written as:

"...and watched as deoxygenated human blood, pumped through the pig lungs, came out oxygen rich on the other end. "

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Mathematics
02/12/10 at 11:04 am

@powq33

"Now, researchers at Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, have used genetically modified pig lungs to successfully pump human blood"

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powq33
02/12/10 at 12:55 pm

Apparently I skipped over that line(like I usually do to the ones with hyperlinks in them)

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deemor347845
02/13/10 at 9:23 pm

i dont know about doctors profession but human blood used in pigs difficult for me.

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jcardenas26
02/15/10 at 3:44 pm

Great more swine flu epademic to make the drug co's more money

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old-scratch
02/17/10 at 1:38 pm

PETA hasnt gone apeshit yet? What?

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Grantmann
02/17/10 at 6:42 pm

Will it be Kosher or Halal?

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Gnotty
02/28/10 at 5:17 am

Can you imagine all of the people walking around with bacon breath? Delicious.

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Philly
05/22/10 at 3:51 pm

the pig is ugly

Philly

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yokii1
05/30/10 at 8:17 pm

this pigg is SOOO UGLY!

celulares baratos

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abeasley
07/02/10 at 7:14 pm

Science is crazy. If you take a pigs lung and place it in a healthy (other than there lungs of course) person how long will it last? You've stated that there have been problems in the past with animal organs inside the body of a human. Yet you still try to find ways to make it work. Even if you did find a pig lung that works with human blood. A pigs life expectancy is 6 to 9 years. Some may reach their teens. How long do you expect those lungs to hold up? I applaud the effort of this. There is a huge shortage of healthy human organs to the people that need it. This would be a good temporary fix in my eyes, but at what cost? Personally I would squirm at the fact that I'm breathing with lungs from a pig. Health insurance for individuals

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alasiri.
12/02/10 at 12:23 pm

I would think an early application might be a heart long bypass machine that is not so hard on the blood.
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