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Science

Scientists Grow Pig's Heart On Sheep's Neck 75

Posted by michael from the wear-your-heart-on-your-sleeve dept.
t0rnt0pieces writes "Yahoo! News reports that Nebraska scientists say they successfully grafted a pig's heart to a sheep by manipulating the immune systems of both animals, a step that may soon allow scientists to grow organs for human transplantation. Trials using pig organs to transplant into humans are on the way. Besides hearts, the technology could be applicable to kidney, liver and pancreatic islet cell transplants. Take a look at a picture of one of the sheep here."
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Scientists Grow Pig's Heart On Sheep's Neck More

Scientists Grow Pig's Heart On Sheep's Neck

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  • I mean an ear on a mouse i can understand....

    I think this is a hoax, call me sceptical but the heart wouldn't have anything to pump so wouln't grow correctly?

    Who knows, worries me though.
  • That sheep looks like the ballchinian from Men in Black 2.
  • We have created the ultimate beast! A monkey with 5 asses.

  • obSimpsons... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Dr. Photo ( 640363 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @01:36PM (#5242806) Journal
    Now they can make pork, ham and bacon all come from the same animal... :P

  • Genetical Engineering Ranch (Score:3, Funny)

    by jkujawa ( 56195 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @01:37PM (#5242823) Homepage
    This sheep has only one ass! It's useless to me!

  • Why... (Score:4, Funny)

    by sl8r ( 104278 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @01:43PM (#5242912)
    ...didn't they go for something more important, like wings on the back of a pig?

    • Re:Why... (Score:3, Funny)

      by cornjchob ( 514035 )
      Or they could sew a bird onto the back of a rodent.

      "Look, I made a pigeon rat"
      • How fitting that you should say, "Look, I made a pigeon rat," what with pigeons being little more than flying rats and whatnot.
        • You're thinking of bats.
          • No, I'm thinking of pigeons. I wasn't implying that pigeons are rodents, just that they might as well be for what they're worth.

            Ask anybody who's lived in a big, crowded city, like New York or someplace like that. They'll all tell you that pigeons (yes, the kind of bird) are little more than rats that fly: they're dirty, they're annoying pests, they're all over the place, etc.
    • That might happen....When pigs fly!!!!1!11
  • correct me if I'm worng, but is it quite a bit easier to get the heart attached than it is to get it to function correctly?

    • Re:functional? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Merlin42 ( 148225 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @02:10PM (#5243287)
      One step at a time please ...

      I think the point of this experiment was to be able to do interspecies transplants while avoiding rejection, actually replacing the heart would have added one more complication to the experiment that could have confused the results.

  • anyone else thinking... (Score:4, Funny)

    by (trb001) ( 224998 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @01:57PM (#5243136) Homepage
    ewe...

  • Gah? (Score:1)

    by Chase ( 8036 )
    That is just totally wrong. No way anyone should do that to anything.

    I'm disgusted.

    Chase

    • Re:Gah? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Bonker ( 243350 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @03:47PM (#5244596)
      Mr. Chase, your steady diet of greasy porkrinds and quarterpounders with cheese has finally caught up with you. Your heart is damaged beyond repair. Your only hope of living longer than six months is a full heart transplant. Unfortuneately the waiting list is quite long and you're of a race that typically has very few registered donors. (Ask Asians about transplants...) The prognosis isn't good.

      Fortuneately, we've been doing immune-system research with sheep and pigs that may allow you to use a pig heart in the short... or even long term.

      Now, Mister Chase, do you think that the research is so wrong?
      • This may all come as odd to you, Hamburger Nation's pride and joy, but there are people on this planet who think that animals have some rights similar to humans.

        There are even people who think you should be at least considerate about what you eat. I'm not yet even talking about vegetarians here. I'm just talking about people not living with their minds in their arses, thinking that the current culture of animal treatment is just OK.

        We are modern Western people, right? We think about morality all day, and have figured out what can and cannot be done, right? Equal rights for the gay, black, female, jewish!

        But a sheep is just a stupid animal! Let's hang a heart on his neck just in case some worthless hamburger head is about to die from his wasteful lifestyle! (And wasteful it is: you are said to be an environmentally better person if you go around throwing batteries in the river all day, than if you get yourself a child.)

        Now, Mister Bonker, do you think the research is so right?

        You probably still do think so. You think any animal is worth far less than any human. I, for one, was quite well amazed to see a documentary on TV about someone talking with a Gorilla using some kind of deaf language. The animal was actually quite human in conversation, and the IQ of it was estimated to be somewhere around 80, I believe. (Indeed, about the same as a mentally simple human. Have you ever seen those in real life? They look a lot like normal humans, too!)

        These things make you rethink the issue: are animals (other than Gorillas) less important to you, only because they look less like humans (than gorilla's do)?

        You probably think so. But it's a very arrogant redenation to me. Not unlike "black/ women/ gay/ jewish are less like us and should be treated as such", in fact.

        Next time you eat your hamburger, at least acknowledge you're a murderer. It gives you quite a fresh look of how wicked our current society is to animals.

        Think I'm radical? I'm not even a full-term vegetarian myself. I'm just honest about the state of our society, that's all. And I'm just hoping more people would be. Why is it that we can see every little social issue, but don't want to see this one?
        • The minute you do what you preach is the minute I wil listen to you. Take your dog off your leash, set your fish free, quit using glue, oh that oil is decomposed biomatter oh you evil murdering bastard. There are many animal based products that you are using no matter how hard you try not too. We are very codependant on the lives of animals, even if it is on the taking of those lives. Native Americans of the plains honored the buffalo, even though they killed it to eat it, clothe them, etc. There has to be a balance. In order for us to live our lives, they must support us in any way they can.
          • The minute you do what you preach is the minute I wil listen to you.

            Oh, come on, read before you reply. I "preach" nothing but honesty about being cruel to animals and I am honest about this myself. I have caused the death of innumerous animals and my days of rampage are still far from over. But I acknowledge the sad state of facts, unlike so many others do.

            There are many animal based products that you are using no matter how hard you try not too.

            I think I have made very clear that I'm not even a full-fledged vegetarian. I don't know how you've gotten the idea that I must have been a veganist with all bells and whistles installed instead. All you have seen me doing is weighing the life of the first useless L.A. fashion junk against that of a sheep. And Avril Lavignes opinion aside, the sheep may well win because of having more interesting things to say over the average. That's all I was saying.

            There has to be a balance. In order for us to live our lives, they must support us in any way they can.

            Is that a quote from pre-civil war America or what?

            quit using glue

            An addict, huh? :-)

  • "Take a look at a picture of one of the sheep here..."

    Awe man... I was hopin' they wouldn't...
  • Yet it takes a cornhusker national championship to make people conglomerate in the middle of 72nd & Dodge and act like total idiots.

  • Graft != Grow (Score:2, Troll)

    by DrSkwid ( 118965 )
    crappy editing + hyperbole = news

    OMAHA, Nebraska - Nebraska scientists say they successfully grafted a pig's heart to a sheep by manipulating the immune systems of both animals, a step that may soon allow scientists to grow organs for human transplantation.

    Personally I'd like to graft a baseball bat to the scientists' faces at high speed. I guess it would be rejected but I'm willing to take that chance
    • But when an ant farms aphids for its own use, that's nature?
      • when I met my currect GF I didn't kill her child like a male lion would have done when it finds a new mate.

        If I was to kill her child and eat it I'm pretty sure most people would regard that as barbaric if not pure evil.

        We, as humans, have devised a set of social contracts with regard to how we treat each other, these contracts are backed up by the threat of state violence culmination in execution.

        Yet this is a relatively recent state of affairs. 200 years ago if you had any money you had to watch your back and inspect your food lest your relatives decided it was time to inherit.

        Living at the expense of others is seen nowadays to be one of the biggest sins of all and yet we exploit our fellow creatures as though their lives mean nothing and their suffering less.

        It's bad enough that we factory farm them for food. To me using them as organ factories is an unspeakable horror. One that will shame us the same way slavery shames casts shame upon our forefathers.

        Non-white people were considered less than human. That we continue to use 'less than human' to define the right to live unmolested and without suffering pains me.

        • You know what? I'm sure that if scientists could advance the state of medical technology without possibly harming animals, they would. This is all just a transitional stage to the point where we can literally just grow organs, customized to the recipient to save lives of all types. Maybe someday even other animals. Sometimes you just have to step on an animal to get to the next step. And believe me, other animals do the same thing. We are not being predatory here. We are aiming to save lives. A goal which you are saying we should just ignore. Why don't you open your mind even more, and realize that people may "blown" their lives by eating greasy foods and not exercising, but are you saying we become prejudiced against them. They are predisposed to do what they do. We are all products of our environment and our genetic makeup. Nothing is our fault. We are in this world to live this one life. Period.
          • i doubt that many vivisectors lay awake at night pondering the tenet of that argument. if the pharmacological coplex was really concerned then they would be investing in finding technologies that stopped vivisection. Instead they try and patent the genetic makeup for the perfect vivisection mouse.

            Medicine for profit doesn't even take any notice of such issues. Reducing the levels of animal testing is simply not on the roadmap.

            when billions of creatures are factory farmed and slaughtered to feed the meat addiction then why would anyone even care about the horrific treatment of a few mice?

            if you think you're not addicted then think about what it would take you to stop? BSE? Heart disease? Antibiotic contamination? Water pollution transferred to fish? Crohn's disease from milk? (I've got that one, it's not much fun) Rainforest de-forestation? Water conservation? Global warming from cattle flatulence?

            I'll get off my high horse now but like all the challenges we face a wider view is called for. Self preservation takes many forms.

        • While I in some sense understand you viewpoint, I find it very very very hypocritical. Everyone I know who complains about treating animals with equal rights and consideration as humans, while well intentioned, is misguided.

          With the exception of a few species, namley (and I might be missing one or 2 here) Orangotanges, Chimpanze, Whales, Dolphins and Humans, animals are not self aware. This means that they are not entitled to the same consideration as those that are self aware. (For the record, I am against non-consentual medical research involving all these species). In terms of treatment of other animals, any vertibrates have a right to be treated in an ethically humane manner. My collegues like to see suffering as much as the next person. Contrary to the view point of animal crusaders, most of us have pets, and do in fact enjoy animals.

          I'm an immunologist who studies immune suppresion, in the hope that my research will lead to a cure for autoimmune diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis, Diabities, and graft rejection. In order to perform my experiments, I have to kill cute little furry mice. Do I like this part of my job? NO. If I did, I would be one sick person, killing another living creature is not fun. I do not take it lightly. In fact, because of this I plan my experiments so that I use each animal as effectivly as possible, and induce the least amount of suffering on them. My Aunt suffers from M.S., and will likely die from it, leaving behind a husband and a daughter. You want to compare the life of an animal to that? Now, you are probably thinking... SICK BASTARD. Well, this is what I have to say to all the hippocrates that protest against animal research:

          Have you ever used antibiotics? A drug of any type for your health? How do you suppose we cure diseases, minimize HUMAN suffering without animals to perform research on? Do you volonteer? Should we use prison inmates? Grandma? Seriously, grow up. Everyone out there that wants to see a cure for aids... think we're gonna find that with a computer model? Cell culture? Look, animal research isnt perfect, there are lodes of cures for cancer that work in a mouse but not a human. But animal research is one of the first steps in any form of biomedical breakthrough. Everything you take that comes in one of those pop-top child safe bottles was at some point tested on animals. So if you're really against animal research, dont visit a hospital EVER - or your a terrible hippocrate.

          Idgrad
  • Human ears on mice
    Pig's heart on sheep
    What's next?
    In latest news scientists have announced that they have engineered a monkey with a duck's bill, a cat's whiskers, a pig's tail and a elephant's ears. Dunno what use it will be for the monkey in question, but anything in the aid of science / boffinism.

  • urgh. (Score:4, Funny)

    by Hubert_Shrump ( 256081 ) <cobranetNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Thursday February 06, 2003 @03:07PM (#5243977) Journal
    Just when I was getting tired of ASCIId goatsex, they made goat horror new again.

    Thank you, science!

  • Darn Redneck hick scientists... Next step is they're going to try to put a pig's heart in a '59 Chevy.

    -T

    • Re:Nebraska, eh? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by AngryPuppy ( 595294 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @10:48PM (#5247788) Journal

      They're from Nebraska, so what they've done doesn't have significance? The East and West coast folks don't have a monopoly on intelligence or innovation. That heart wasn't held on with bailing wire, Einstein. Whether I agree with it or not, the location has nothing ot do with the significance of the achievement.

      Troll.

      Terry

      Omaha, Nebraska

      • Hi, Terry... Can't take a joke? Humor-impaired? Lacking a funny bone? Little bit touchy about your state?

        Or did you really believe that I thought that Nebraska scientists were going to try putting a heart in a Chevy? O.o

        -T

        • Maybe I'm not alone in my humor deficiency. I didn't see any +1 Funny moderation on your comment, so it must have gone over the head of every single moderator. Must be big city humor that all of us dumb hicks don't get. Matter of fact, you were modded down... Offtopic -1. Sounds like a moderator dislikes your humor.

          Now...let's compare scores. I've been modded up twice for my response (although this flame may cost me a bit of karma... I'll risk that). One "Interesting" mark, one "Insightful". You're a smart big city boy, so I don't think I have to explain that to you. I think tact is beyond you, however, so I will explain... others saw my response as reasonable... not humor impaired or simply defensive.

          Maybe I'll just have to take your word for it that it was funny and assume that it was not meant in a demeaning manner. I read it again, imagining you smiling as you type the message... nope, still doesn't strike me as a friendly jab. Dumb hick I am.

          To give you some credit, yes, it was defensive, I won't pretend otherwise. However, ignorant comments like yours affect me that way. it's a constant lack of respect that the New York and LA crowd has for everything between their two cities. I was in downtown Omaha a few years ago. We have a historic section called the Old Market. Quaint, peaceful. A man was sitting outside, enjoying a brew, and he says to his companion "I'll tell ya... this place is really laid back... but all the people around here like to act like they're from somewhere else." What the hell does that mean? He was making that comment as several teenagers were driving by in their modified imports. To him, it wasn't appropriate that Omaha kids are driving cars that you might find teens driving in New York or LA. Like they would somehow be genetically different and have different drives and desires. I guess they should have been pulling hay wagons. Damn us for having some common interests to the New York and LA crowd.

          Nope...sorry. I guarantee I've seen more of this country than you have. I know how to survive in a big city. I've done it (no, I'm not referring to Omaha, although I'll bet it ain't as small-town as you think). You have nothing on me. I'm not the impaired one.

          • Maybe I'm not alone in my humor deficiency. I didn't see any +1 Funny moderation on your comment, so it must have gone over the head of every single moderator. Must be big city humor that all of us dumb hicks don't get. Matter of fact, you were modded down... Offtopic -1. Sounds like a moderator dislikes your humor.

            Nope, sounds like a moderator doesn't understand the moderation system. He should have chosen Overrated -1. It was on topic, whether or not it was funny.

            Now...let's compare scores. I've been modded up twice for my response (although this flame may cost me a bit of karma... I'll risk that). One "Interesting" mark, one "Insightful". You're a smart big city boy, so I don't think I have to explain that to you. I think tact is beyond you, however, so I will explain... others saw my response as reasonable... not humor impaired or simply defensive.

            Again, I see nothing 'insightful' or 'interesting' in your response. Underrated, maybe, but what did I learn from your answer? Nothing.

            Maybe I'll just have to take your word for it that it was funny and assume that it was not meant in a demeaning manner. I read it again, imagining you smiling as you type the message... nope, still doesn't strike me as a friendly jab. Dumb hick I am.

            No, just humor impaired. Try laughing at yourself some time - it helps your outlook on everything.

            To give you some credit, yes, it was defensive, I won't pretend otherwise. However, ignorant comments like yours affect me that way. it's a constant lack of respect that the New York and LA crowd has for everything between their two cities. I was in downtown Omaha a few years ago. We have a historic section called the Old Market. Quaint, peaceful. A man was sitting outside, enjoying a brew, and he says to his companion "I'll tell ya... this place is really laid back... but all the people around here like to act like they're from somewhere else." What the hell does that mean? He was making that comment as several teenagers were driving by in their modified imports. To him, it wasn't appropriate that Omaha kids are driving cars that you might find teens driving in New York or LA. Like they would somehow be genetically different and have different drives and desires. I guess they should have been pulling hay wagons. Damn us for having some common interests to the New York and LA crowd.

            First, as I said in grandparent, it wasn't ignorant, it was humorous. I really do not believe that Nebraskan scientists are trying to put a heart in a Chevy.

            Nope...sorry. I guarantee I've seen more of this country than you have. I know how to survive in a big city. I've done it (no, I'm not referring to Omaha, although I'll bet it ain't as small-town as you think). You have nothing on me. I'm not the impaired one.

            Well, you don't know that - don't claim that my comment was making unreasonable assumptions about Nebraskans and then make unreasonable assumptions about me. I could be the type of person who has never left my city, or I could be the type of person who has travelled to every state, by car, videotaping documentaries for the Discovery channel. Which am I? You don't know, because you don't know me.
            You're guilty of exactly what you're accusing me of - making broad generalizations about something you know nothing about... now are you going to insist that they moderate you down as -1 Offtopic? ;)

            -T

            • OK, conceded. The trigger was not the car reference so much as your topic (Nebraska, eh) being closely paired with "dumb hick". Keep in mind that text communication lacks inflection, therefore your intended tone has to be assumed.

              what did I learn from your answer? Nothing.

              Actually, I'm guessing that at the very least, I proved to you that one of us Nebraskans is literate and owns a computer implying the use of electricity, as well. I'm getting one of those fancy new flush toilets installed next week, although they hypnotize Ma when she watches them flush. :-) Actually, I think the moderators were simply trying to show support for my point of view. They may also be oppressed midwesterners.

              Yeah, as I admitted earlier... I'm being defensive. I do laugh at myself among my friends, coworkers, etc., but on a national level, I feel like the coasters are laughing at us, not with us.

              First, as I said in grandparent, it wasn't ignorant, it was humorous. I really do not believe that Nebraskan scientists are trying to put a heart in a Chevy.

              Now you didn't retract your quip about "dumb hicks", did you? That was the only part that got me started here, not the car reference.

              I have to put up with some of this from my wife from time to time, also. She is from Long Island, so she's a proud New Yorker. She once said "I wouldn't be proud of being a Nebraska native", at which point I had to remind her of where our son was born. Sheesh. To ice the cake, she thinks that you fold your pizza in half before consuming. She also swears that NY pizza tastes better. I tell her it's because she's gotten used to the blood in the tomato sauce from the mob being mixed up in the restaurants over there.

              ...anyway.... I digress...

              • Naw, I know that many Nebraskans are literate and own a computer, same as in many other parts of the US. We're simply using a stereotype as a humorous jibe, just as you could use an uptight snob as a jibe at me (I'm a Bostonian... and feel free to poke fun at the Red Sox).

                Incidentally, did I really say "dumb hick"? I must have missed that, must go check. If I did, terribly sorry.

                Also, incidentally, you fold your pizza in half so that the weight of the cheese doesn't make the tip dip while you try to eat it - if you fold it in half, it stiffens the crust (as it then has to bend against the fold), and you're able to eat the tip without it drooping.

                Oh, and finally, all East-coasters know that Chicago pizza tastes the best. ;)

                -T

        • He warned you right in his post that he was trolling. Can't you read?

  • Just in time for Valentine's Day! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Single GNU Theory ( 8597 ) on Thursday February 06, 2003 @03:10PM (#5244005) Journal
    And what better way to say, "I love you" than with the gift of a heart-shaped... uh, heart.
    • "And what better way to say, "I love you" than with the gift of a heart-shaped... uh, heart."

      In one of my biology labs, there was a story about a student who presented his fair lady with a heart shaped box one Valentine's day. But instead of chocolates, the box contained, well...

      Let me digress for a moment with a bit of Biology trivia. A turtle's heart will continue to beat for a considerable length of time after being removed from the body. Thanks to it's low metabolic rate and stable SA (pacemaker) node, it can continue to pulse slowly for days, if kept moist with an appropriate salt solution.

      So... this girl opens the box and there's a beating heart in there. Unfortunately, the story doesn't record her reaction. However, I have my doubts as to whether the fellow got anywhere with his gift.

  • Why are you so negative? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 06, 2003 @03:20PM (#5244115)
    How do you plan to test your immunology theories without doing real research on living things? You don't plan to test them? Fine, go ahead and die your ignorant and natural death but please shut up until then.
  • I have heard of wearing your heart on a sleeve but this is absurd.
  • I just saw a show, I think it was on sci-fi the other day. They were growing hearts in women and the women thought they were pregnant. They ended up 'miscarrying' or so the doctor had them believe, and that was when the doctor would harvest the heart.

    How weird that they are doing something similar with a sheep and pig, well sort of.

    Does anyone else really understand the correlations of sci-fi and real life? Its not just coincidence that some of these stories happen, its because sci-fi authors see the world as it potentialy could be. Yes the shows are fiction, but the sci in sci-fi is for science and often times they are based on reality and the truth is streatched.

  • the scientists simply blushed and started giggling madly...
  • I've heard of wearing your heart on your sleeve, but this is ridiculous.

  • So what? (Score:2, Funny)

    by phorm ( 591458 )
    We've already grown humans with assess attached to the top of their necks. Currently they were last seem working in RIAA adminstration...
    • Variation B:

      "They have grown assholes on the faces of RIAA members, but nobody could tell the difference."

    • Re:So what? (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      You're quite correct, sir! There's another asshole-grafted-to-neck experiment that is working hard to start World War III as we type. The graft experiment was successful, but there was an unforeseen mutation that caused it to be completely and totally addicted to oil.
  • Correct me if I'm wrong, but do we already use valves from pig hearts to replace human valves sometimes?

    Also, I'm pretty sure that we use ligaments from pigs in knee surgery. Does anyone know about this?
    • Well I do know that many heart valves are replaced using pig valves for a fact and I have heard a lot of talk about pig organs but I did a google and it looks as though this sort of thing has been tried a lot without much success.
      The first experiments to use genetically altered animal organs in humans were given US government approval July 1995 - genetically altered pig livers would be attached to the circulatory systems of patients who were near death or whose livers had failed. Need for the tests had arisen due to a shortage of human organs available for transplant. [http://www.hme.co.uk/samples/transpla.htm]
  • Wouldn't this make an awesome pet?

  • Just one step . . . (Score:2, Insightful)

    by TwP ( 149780 )
    . . . towards grafting a brain into Mr. Bush's head!
  • I would think that it would have been more telling to replace the sheep's heart with the pigs. Simply putting the pig's heart on the sheep's neck says little about the functionality or feasibility. Nonetheless, this is promising for the medical community. I'm sure all sorts of other cell swapping will take place besides marrow and spleen cells to figure out which combination of immune system cells reduces the rejection rate the most. Also, if you needed a heart transplant, would they need to take your marrow? Or just and human's? Six months is a long time to wait for that pig to grow when your heart isn't working correctly. I would like to see more research done and more questions answered.

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