For a history-making two months, a pig's kidney worked normally inside a brain-dead man. And while the dramatic experiment ended this week, it's raising hope for eventually testing pig kidneys in living patients.

Dozens of doctors and nurses silently lined the hospital hallway in tribute: For a history-making two months, a pig’s kidney worked normally inside the brain-dead man on the gurney rolling past them.

The dramatic experiment came to an end Wednesday as surgeons at NYU Langone Health removed the pig kidney and returned the donated body of Maurice “Mo” Miller to his family for cremation.

It marked the longest a genetically modified pig kidney has ever functioned inside a human, albeit a deceased one. And by pushing the boundaries of research with the dead, the scientists learned critical lessons they’re preparing to share with the Food and Drug Administration -– in hopes of eventually testing pig kidneys in the living.

“It’s a combination of excitement and relief,” Dr. Robert Montgomery, the transplant surgeon who led the experiment, told The Associated Press. “Two months is a lot to have a pig kidney in this good a condition. That gives you a lot of confidence” for next attempts.

    • Arbiter@lemmy.world
      15·
      1 year ago

      I would imagine this to vary between vegans. The ethical equation is different when looking at a life or death transplant vs a meal that could just as easily be substituted for a vegan alternative.

    • PetDinosaurs@lemmy.world
      5·
      1 year ago

      Good question! I’m curious too.

      So, there’s emotional vegans and intellectual ones.

      I could definitely see an intellectual taking one of the pigs kidneys and giving both the pig and the kidney a good home. Maybe not though. That’s why this is such a good question.

      I have convinced an intellectual vegan that it was ok to eat farmed clams and oysters. Because:

      1. You are going to have a lot of difficulty convincing me that that thing is at all sentient. What would even the purpose be. It just sits there and filter feeds. (I could go on, but I won’t)

      2. The lastest research I’ve seen about this kind of farming suggests that it is probably beneficial to the ecosystem, and if it’s not, it’s largely neutral.

      • PaulDevonUK@lemmy.world
        3·
        1 year ago

        You don’t just pop into the supermarket for a kidney. Animals are probably reared in strict conditions for the research and then harvested.

        • Trebach@kbin.social
          3·
          1 year ago

          The pig embryos have to be specifically genetically modified such that their organs don’t have proteins that would cause an immune response in humans.

  • Altima NEO@lemmy.zipEnglish
    3·
    1 year ago

    Wait what… he was brain dead but alive… them they took the kidney out, and then what?

    • PetDinosaurs@lemmy.world
      5·
      1 year ago

      I imagine they donated the kidneys and put a hybrid one in there. Then you can monitor the body.

      It’s neat, but transplant ethics are really, really hard.

      If the liver, heart, lungs, or other sensitive organs were viable, this experiment could easily render them inviable.

      As a scientist, people doing science like this are typically well above board and kidney function is pretty simple to measure. This would also require all kinds of IRB approval that everyone would expect to be visible.

      So, if the other organs were viable, they probably could easily stop the experiment and donate the organs.

      I expect. I’d have to read the paper and such.