Yasmina Kattou, edited by Ophélie Artaud
A technology, found by American researchers at Yale University, could give real hope for organ transplantation. The latter managed to resuscitate the organs of pigs when the blood no longer circulated in its organs, after a cardiac arrest, which allows the cells to be almost intact. Explanations.
It’s not about waking the dead, but almost. A technology could revolutionize the world of transplantation. After a cardiac arrest lasting more than an hour, pigs’ organs were resuscitated while the blood no longer circulated in their organs. A feat achieved by American researchers from Yale University. Scientists have therefore succeeded in reversing the processes of cell death.
Restore blood circulation in the organs
Blood is pumped from the pig’s body, filtered by dialysis and re-oxygenated. Half of this blood is then mixed with several chemical compounds, 13 in total, some of which are kept secret by the researchers. This cocktail is again infused to restore blood circulation in the organs. Thanks to this system, the pig did not revive from its cardiac arrest, but the cells of its organs remained almost intact. A discovery that could revolutionize transplants. “The most sensitive organ is the brain. We know that after three minutes of non-vascularization, there are irreversible lesions. With this product, experience shows that even after an hour of complete circulatory arrest, there is a total resumption of the activity of these organs, therefore the potential to be able to transplant them”, explains Jean-Etienne Bazin, professor of intensive care at the University of Clermont-Ferrand.
So, before knowing if this system is usable in humans, the pig’s organs would have to be transplanted to other pigs to see if they still function normally, tempers the doctor. It should also be ensured that the product is well tolerated in humans.