An Hybrid Between Pigs and Humans Would look like this!
Scientists recently announced that they have created the first successful human-animal hybrids .
The project demonstrates that human cells can be introduced into a non-human organism, survive and even grow; in this case in pigs.
This biomedical breakthrough is a dream come true, and has long been a dilemma for scientists, who saw it as a solution to the shortage of organ donors.
Every ten minutes, a person is added to the organ transplant list. And every day, 22 people die without success.Luckily, we are now closer to achieving this, thanks to a team of researchers led by the Salk Institute. The team created what is known scientifically as a chimera: an organism that contains cells from two different species .
Until now, the chimeras of humans and animals were beyond our reach.
There are two ways to create a chimera. The first is the introduction of the organs of one animal into another, a risky proposal, since the host's immune system can cause the organ to be rejected.
The other method is to start at the embryonic level, introducing the cells of one animal into the embryo of another and let them grow together in a hybrid .
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Although it sounds weird, it is an ingenious way of solving a series of biological problems with organs grown in the laboratory. At first, Juan Carlos Izpisúa Belmonte, a professor at the Expression Laboratory of the Salk Institute, thought that the concept of using a host embryo to make organs grow was quite simple.
However, it has required more than 40 collaborators and four years to achieve a successful chimera.
Pigs have a remarkable resemblance to humans . Although they have less gestation time, their organs are very similar to ours. But these similarities do not make the task easier.
The team discovered that, to introduce human cells into pigs without killing them, it had to be done at the right time.
"We tested three different types of human cells, which essentially represent three different occasions" in the development process, explains Wu June, Salk Institute scientist.
In total, the team created 186 chimeric embryos that survived, Wu says, and "we estimated that each had about one in 100,000 human cells." It is a low percentage, which could present a long-term problem.
Human tissue seems to slow down the growth of the embryo, and organs from these embryos as they develop could be more likely to be rejected by humans, since they would contain a lot of pig tissue.
The next big step is to find out if it is possible to increase the number of cells that human embryos can tolerate. The current method is a start, but it is still not clear that all obstacles can be overcome .
Although it is still at an early stage, it is a breakthrough.
What is the use of Doing such Hybrid's?
There are many uses, but the main use is Organ Transplant. If this Hybrid get's successful we can transplant their organs. And this will prevent the lack of Organ Donors.
What do you think about this scientific breakthrough? Do you think it can be a new source of organ transplants? Will this Hybrid be helpful for Human Community?
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