Study: Restoration of cell function in pigs after death

Researchers say experiments using pig tissue suggest tissue can be preserved and cells can regain their working capacity an hour after death.

The study by a team of researchers from Yale University in the United States recently appeared in the scientific publication Nature.

The researchers suggested that their experimental technology could help increase the number of organs available to patients in need of organs transplants.

In the experiment, the researchers stopped the hearts of several pigs. After an hour, the animals were hooked up to a special machine that pumped a blood substitute through their bodies. The liquid contained some blood and about 13 chemicals designed to support and decrease cellular activity inflammation.

Six hours later, the treatment had reduced or reversed some of the damage caused by lack of oxygen when the heart stopped pumping blood. For example, organ inflammation and collapsed blood Ships were reduced or corrected, the scientists said.

The researchers call the treatment OrganEx.

The results showed that when the heart stops, the body “isn’t as dead as we were before.” supposed‘ said Zvonimir Vrselja. He is one of the authors of the Yale University study who spoke to reporters. He added: “We were able to show that we can make cells not die.”

In the study, the scientists said Genetic analysis of the tissue suggested that once blood flow was restored, the process of cell repair began.

The researchers said the pigs showed no signs of electrical activity in the brain during the experiment.

They hope OrganEx will allow for increased use of organs harvested after life support has been removed dispenser with severe brain injuries from which they cannot recover. Their goal is to prevent organ damage that occurs when blood circulation stops.

Currently, organs harvested from brain-dead donors who have been removed from life support systems do not function as well as those harvested from such donors with circulating blood.

However, using OrganEx on human organs could take years to come.

Stephen Latham is from Yale’s Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics. He said the result of the study “far from saying that any organs were restored to the level of function” necessary to support life.

Some observers suggest that the technology could theoretically one day be used to bring someone back to life who has just died.

Latham said, “It would take a lot more experimentation to do that.” He added, “And you would have to think about what state a human being would be restored to.”

Latham said using OrganEx in organ transplants is a more realistic goal. He added that any use of OrganEx in a patient’s medical treatment “is a long way off.”

I’m Gregory Sting.

Nancy Lapid reported this story for Reuters. Gregory Stachel adapted it for VOA Learning English.

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words in this story

transplantation – v. perform a medical operation in which an organ or other body part removed from one person’s body is placed in another person’s body

inflammation – n. a condition in which part of your body becomes red, swollen, and painful

Ship – n. a vein or artery that carries blood throughout the body

assume – v. to think that something is true or probably true without knowing that it is true

dispenser – n. a person who donates something (such as blood or a body organ) so that it can be given to someone who needs it

function -n. the activity, purpose, or work that something or someone does

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