Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • COMMENT

Partially revived pig organs could force a rethink of critical-care processes

Procedures used in life support and to preserve organs in deceased human donors might one day need to be re-evaluated in the wake of a study that restored some cell function in pigs one hour after death.
  1. Brendan Parent

    1. Brendan Parent is assistant professor and director of transplant ethics and policy research at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York University, New York, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

A surgeon puts a plastic bag containing a kidney into a box while a patient is being operated on in the background

A transplant surgeon in Berlin prepares organs donated by a woman with brain death. Credit: Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters

In 2019, neuroscientists and other researchers used a network of pumps, heaters and filters to control the contents, flow and temperature of a solution in the brains of pigs. Remarkably, the perfusion system, called BrainEx, was able to restore certain structural and functional properties in the pigs’ brains — even though the animals had been decapitated for food production four hours before1.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 608, 32-35 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-02060-9

References

  1. Vrselja, Z. et al. Nature 568, 336–343 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Andrijevic, D. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05016-1 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Youngner, S. & Hyun, I. Nature 568, 302–304 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Seifia, A., Lacci, J. V. & Godoy, D. A. Clin. Neurol. Neurosurg. 195, 105885 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Bernat, J. L. Neurocrit. Care 2, 198–205 (2005).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Kidd, A. C. et al. Geriatrics 4, 33 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Miller, D. L., Gorbien, M. J., Simbartl, L. A. & Jahnigen, D. W. Arch. Intern. Med. 153, 1999–2003 (1993).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Ebell, M. H., Bergus, G. R., Warbasse, L. & Bloomer, R. J. Gen. Intern. Med. 11, 16–22 (1996).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Dhital, K. K., Chew, H. C. & Macdonald, P. S. Curr. Opin. Organ Transplant. 22, 189–197 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Jawitz, O. K. et al. J. Heart Lung Transplant. 38, S26 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Glazier, A. K. & Capron, A. M. Am. J. Transplant. 22, 1289–1290 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Parent, B. et al. Am. J. Transplant. 20, 1508–1512 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Adams, B. L., Brenner, L., Levan, M. & Parent, B. Am. J. Transplant. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajt.17083 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Abrams, D. C., Prager, K., Blinderman, C. D., Burkart, K. M. & Brodie, D. Chest 145, 876–882 (2014).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Helft, P. R., Siegler, M. & Lantos, J. N. Engl. J. Med. 343, 293–296 (2000).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Yadav, K. N. et al. Health Affairs 36, 1244–1251 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Barwise, A. et al. Am. J. Hospice Palliat. Med. 36, 362–369 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Sanaiha, Y. et al. Surgery 165, 381–388 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Williamson, L. D., Reynolds-Tylus, T., Quick, B. L. & Shuck, M. J. Appl. Commun. Res. 45, 199–217 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Roncon-Albuquerque, R. Jr et al. Resuscitation 133, 88–94 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Competing Interests

B.P. directs Transplant Ethics and Policy Research at NYU School of Medicine in the Division of Medical Ethics. This programme is in part funded by a gift from United Therapeutics Corporation.

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

  • Postdoctoral fellow at USC (Dr. Jian-Fu Chen lab), Los Angeles

    Two post-doc positions for studying neuroscience and craniofacial biology, crosstalk, and disease using mouse and iPSC models.

    Los Angeles, California

    USC - Center for Craniofacial Molecular Biology

  • Associate Editor, Physics of Living Systems

    The Associate Editor will decide on publishing the most exciting and consequential results in the physics of living systems.

    United States (US) - Remote

    American Physical Society

  • Senior Project Manager

    The Senior Project Manager will play a key role in enabling Springer Nature’s OA transformation, and optimising and expanding our OA business.

    London – Hybrid Working Model

    Springer Nature Ltd

  • Senior Commercial Manager (Open Access)

    This position offers a unique opportunity to influence the future of open access publishing.

    London – Hybrid Working Model

    Springer Nature Ltd

  • Postdoctoral Fellow in Immunology at Northwestern University

    Our T cell biology lab is looking for fellows interested in improving immunotherapies for cancer and autoimmune disease through immune engineering.

    Chicago, Illinois

    Choi Laboratory at Northwestern

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links