“I like pigs. Dogs look up to us, cats look down on us, pigs treat us as equals.”
-Winston Churchill
Could pigs be the answer to kidney replacements?
Pig kidneys are roughly the same size as human kidneys. Testing in the past has been limited to rodent sized kidneys without much success. Recently, testing with pig kidneys has proven more likely to match human needs for kidney replacement.
Researchers are currently using only the structure of the pig kidney and filling in that structure with the recipient’s own cells to create a kidney that would not be rejected. If proven successful, the new method to coat the blood vessels that keep blood flowing could be applied to other organs including the liver and pancreas.
We have used pig heart valves for over 30 years with successful results. Why not kidneys? You can read more about this effort at: https://newsroom.wakehealth.edu/news-releases/2014/09/milestone-reached-in-work-to-build-replacement-kidneys-in-the-lab
