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Asked by wl to Ryan, Ruth, Mako, Liad, Claire on 18 Jun 2015.
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Ryan Cheale answered on 18 Jun 2015:
Only some bits, i know pig hearts are often used for a temporary heart!
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Claire Bryer answered on 21 Jun 2015:
Not really at the moment. There are only a few published cases worldwide of this. The problem with animal organs is that our body recognises it as foreign and our immune system attacks it. You can suppress your immune system with drugs but they won’t be good enough to stop the organ getting destroyed in the end. Even after transplanting a human organ you have to take these drugs because your body knows it does not belong to you. It’s less than ideal to be on these drugs for any length of time because they can mean you get sick quite often as your body is not fighting the nasty bugs you are exposed to.
In the future it may be possible to use organs from animals that have been genetically modified, to trick our bodies into thinking they are human. I think we are still a long way off from this though.
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