Pig organs partially revived hour after death

(BBC) Pig organs have been partially revived an hour after the animals were killed, in a breakthrough with the potential to transform medicine, say US researchers.

The technique could increase the number of organs available for transplant and buy doctors more time to save a life if applied to people.

The study also challenges assumptions about what happens in the moments between life and death.

Experts said the findings were “truly remarkable” and “incredibly significant”.

When the heart stops beating, the body is starved of oxygen and the nutrients it needs to survive. Organs swell in size, blood vessels collapse and cells – the building blocks of the body’s organs – begin to die.

This cellular death was thought to be rapid and permanent, but researchers at Yale University have undone some of that damage in animals which have been dead for an hour.

“We can restore some functions of cells, across multiple vital organs, that should have been dead,” said Prof Nenad Sestan.

“These cells are functioning hours after they should not be.”

It will take considerably more research before the technology could be adapted to be used on people.

However, the initial aim is to preserve transplant organs for longer, so they can get to patients who need them.

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