Organ transplantation information of remains

The University of Pittsburgh tried to transplant the liver of a baboon to a 35-year-old man. The day after the operation, the liver of the baboon began to function, but the man died two months later.

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The difficulty of animal organ transplantation is mainly the fear of virus transmission to humans, and the consequences are quite serious. Photo courtesy/picture

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Imagine how a person would feel if he put a pig's heart in his body or replaced an orangutan's liver. Will his life go on? A few days ago, most Australians said that if they were dying, they would try to accept organ transplants from animals. This statement sounds a bit incredible. With the development of medicine today, can the human body transplant animal organs? Will it reject the human body after transplantation? What is the best source of transplanted organs? With a series of questions, our reporter made a special trip to interview Professor Guan, who has many years of experience in the field of organ transplantation in China.

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The biggest problem facing organ transplantation is the shortage of donor organs, and many people die while waiting.

Professor Guan is an authority on organ transplantation in China. When talking about organ transplantation, he first told reporters something that he would never forget. 1In the autumn of 997, while he was traveling in Australia, a 26-year-old girl ran into a tree because of drunk driving. At that time, she suffered from brain death and could only maintain her breathing and heartbeat by intubation, but her relatives told the doctor that she was willing to donate organs.

Professor Guan recalled: "At that time, we took her heart, lungs, liver, two kidneys, pancreas and seven organs, and transplanted six patients the next day. Coincidentally, a few days later, in the hospital yard, we met six patients chatting together. They happened to be the people saved by the girl. They were on the verge of death, but now they are all alive because of a girl's organs. Don't you think it's amazing? "

According to reports, the cause of death of patients is often only the damage of an organ, not all organs have problems, so organ transplantation can prolong the lives of many patients at this time. After several generations of efforts, in the 1950s, an American scientist realized this dream of mankind.

From 65438 to 0954, American doctor joseph murray successfully performed the first kidney transplant. So far, there have been 500,000 human organ transplants, including heart, liver and kidney. Organ transplantation in China began in the 1960s. Although it was carried out later than abroad, it made rapid progress. At present, the biggest problem facing organ transplantation is the shortage of donor organs, and many people die while waiting.

In the case that the supply of donor organs is in short supply, animal organ transplantation has become the exploration direction of scientists.

At present, 300,000 patients around the world are waiting for suitable donor organs for transplantation. In order to promote the rapid development of organ transplantation and save more lives, scientists have been looking for more and better donor organs. As far as the source and quality of donor organs are concerned, similar organs (that is, human organs) are of course the best, but in the case of short supply, experts have turned their exploration direction to animal organs.

The earliest attempt of mankind was to transplant sheep organs into human body, but due to the lack of experience in immunology at that time, this organ was quickly rejected. After that, many scientists around the world tried to transplant the organs of dogs, pigs and monkeys into human bodies, but these attempts were ultimately unsuccessful. According to Professor Guan, "At present, there is no case of transplanting animal organs into human body in China, but the first person to transplant animal organs into human body in the world is from China. He is Chinese-American Dr. Feng. He successfully transplanted the liver of baboon into human body. Although that person only lived for a month, it was at least a new attempt. "

As we all know, the biggest bottleneck of organ transplantation is rejection. There will be rejection between people, so will there be rejection between animals and people after transplantation? The answer is yes, if animal organs are not specially treated, super rejection will occur within a few minutes after transplantation into human body. Because after hundreds of millions of years of survival, human beings have their own perfect ecosystem and will never allow foreign racial interference. Therefore, once a "foreign body" invades, the human body itself will produce a large number of antibodies and complements. When these things are activated, all blood vessels will be blocked. At this time, this organ will immediately turn black and necrotic, and it will not play any role.

The idea of transplanting animal organs has a long history, but the hidden danger of animal virus infection has not been solved.

Scientists are still determined to solve the problem of rejection, "but this is not the most important thing. The main problem is that animal viruses will be transmitted to humans. " When evaluating the transplanted animal organs, Professor Guan's face showed some worries. He said: "According to the analysis of scientists' reports, several super viruses that humans are talking about now are transmitted from animals to people. For example, HIV was first transmitted to humans by African orangutans. Hundreds of millions of years ago, AIDS was also prevalent among orangutans. At that time, most orangutans died, only a few orangutans survived, and they would have antiviral antibodies in their bodies, so the virus would not attack in them. But later, after the virus was transmitted to people, a new round of fierce attacks began. There are other viruses, such as bird flu. Once these viruses are transmitted to humans, we have no way to treat them at present. Once these viruses adapt to the human body and spread from person to person, it may cause billions of deaths around the world, and the consequences are quite serious. "

In order to prevent animals from being infected with viruses, countries such as Britain and the United States have begun to restrict research in this field by law. In July, 20001year, new regulations were issued in Switzerland, which allowed the conditional transplantation of animal organs, tissues and cells into human body. However, the Swiss government prohibits the transplantation of primate organs to humans, because primates are too close to human populations, and they are worried that the risk of being infected with animal viruses after transplantation is relatively high.

However, just when people were disappointed, things seemed to turn around. At the end of August 2000, some researchers in the United States announced that they had bred a new type of transgenic pig, and the porcine retrovirus inherent in the pig would not be transmitted to people. The results of this study seem to ensure the safety of transplanted animal organs, but the researchers are also very cautious. They don't know the deep mechanism of PERV not infecting human cells. The non-infectivity of PERV needs to be further confirmed by living animal experiments.

The best way to solve the shortage of donated organs is to encourage people to donate voluntarily and introduce corresponding laws and regulations.

Some experts say that one day people may be able to solve the problem of virus infection and finally realize risk-free xenotransplantation. However, under the current circumstances, the best way to solve the shortage of transplant organ donors is to encourage people to donate organs and introduce relevant laws and regulations on organ extraction.

Professor Guan also agrees with this. He said: "Last year, nearly 5,000 kidney transplants were performed in China, but very few organs were provided by relatives, less than 1% in China. This figure shows that people don't know enough about this problem. In China, most organ donations are from parents to children, and few children donate to their parents. Some parents refuse to accept even if they donate. Actually, this kind of thinking is too traditional. From a medical point of view, it is best for children to donate to their parents because their kidneys are very young and the survival rate will be high. " However, traditional ideas make many people think that the health of donors will be seriously affected, but it is not. Professor Guan said, "As long as the kidney has 1/7, it can function normally and live a normal life."

Although China's organ transplant technology is close to the international level, China still lags far behind the developed countries in the field of legislation. "The most important thing now is that there is no legal protection. Some people are willing to donate, but the hospital does not dare. " Professor Guan told a story about his personal experience. "When I was working in Chaoyang Hospital, a girl came to me and begged me to help her father realize a wish. It turned out that his father had a brain tumor and he wanted to donate organs. Later, I asked my superiors. Finally, because there is no legal guarantee, I dare not accept it casually. Therefore, this wish of the elderly has not been realized. "

Britain, France, the United States, Canada and other countries, including Hong Kong, have relevant laws and regulations on organ transplantation. In the United States, when everyone takes a driver's license test, there will be a column that needs to be filled in. The content of this column is to donate your own organs voluntarily in case of brain death caused by an accident. When a car accident happens, the police can know the personal donation as long as they draw a card, and inform the hospital to get the organs at any time. Professor Guan said: "The brain cortex and brain stem of brain-dead people are dead and have no breathing. Brain-dead patients live less than a week, and this period is the best time to donate. "