Pig blood, cobra venom…If we hear these two names, we can easily imagine a medieval sorceress adding ingredients to a cauldron. However, in this case, there are two connections that help keep organs viable for longer For lung transplant. And this is not about the Middle Ages, but about the present day.
recipe has just been presented in a study published in Scientific achievements and may be the key to facilitating this intervention. WITH lung transplant, as with many others, the problem is not a lack of donors. Fortunately, more and more people decide to become organ donors after their death or families who give permission to do so. However, it is estimated that only 25% of donor lungs are transplanted.
Because it is an organ loses its viability very fast. The time interval from the moment it is removed from the donor to transplantation into the recipient is usually about six hours. However, with this new technique, this time can be extended up to 24 hours. But let’s see what it consists of.
recipe for a perfect lung transplant
One of the reasons for the short viability of donor lungs is tissue deterioration due to lack of blood supply.
For this reason, these scientists, natives of Vanderbilt University Medical Centerdeveloped a method consisting in connecting the lung with the circulatory system of a live pig. The procedure is similar to that performed in some open heart surgeries, in which the heart is connected to a blood donor.
It was already clear that pig organs They are not very different from ours. In fact, a man managed to transplant a pig’s heart. Therefore, the use of your circulatory system is not unreasonable.
But yes, there is a problem. It was noted that during the procedure infiltrate cells and antibodies pigs in a donor organ. As a result, after lung transplantation, the recipient may experience rejection.
This is where cobra venom comes into play. It is known that a compound of the human immune system called C3 plugin, can neutralize the antibodies deposited in the pig’s blood. In other words, it can stop the rejection reaction to animal components that have entered the organ. Unfortunately, when this component is added exogenously, it degrades very quickly. It only lasts a few minutes. Instead, in cobra venom there is a non-toxic protein that reproduces the same effects and can remain stable for several hours. If this is added to a donor organ, it may reduce the chance of rejection.
There’s still a lot to be done
It is important to note that this does not guarantee that all donor lungs will be usable from that point on. So far only tissue viability associated with the circulatory system of the pig. In addition, there was proof of concept with cobra venom. But human lung transplantation has not been performed. This would not be safe until I have researched the whole procedure in more detail.
However, scientists believe they may be on the right track. First of all, they are confident in the action of pig blood. As for cobra venom, it can be dirty, and even neutralization of antibodies does not completely kill pig cells. For this reason they believe the key may be in breeding genetically immunodeficient pigs. Thus, their antibodies will not penetrate into the tissues of the donor lung.
It’s too early to ring the bells on the fly. For the time being, it will be necessary to continue to use current methods and, above all, campaigns to inform the public about the importance of becoming donors. There are already many people who do this; but the more the better.
Source: Hiper Textual
