Chemical Cocktail Can Keep a Heart Viable 10 Days, Outside the Body 97
nj_peeps writes "Harvard professor Hemant Thatte has developed a cocktail of 21 chemical compounds that he calls Somah, derived from the Sanskrit for 'ambrosia of rejuvenation.' Using Somah, Thatte and his team have accomplished some amazing feats with pig hearts. They can keep the organ viable for transplant up to 10 days after harvest — far longer than the four-hour limit seen in hospitals today. Not only that, but using low temperatures and Somah, they were able to take a pig heart that was removed post mortem and get it to beat 24 hours later in the lab."
Good morning... (Score:2, Insightful)
Great. What's in it? (Score:2, Insightful)
Maybe I fail at reading this late, but TFA didn't say what was in the stuff. Is this cocktail made of proteins? Inorganic compounds? "21 chemicals" sounds like "11 herbs and spices": marketing speak which doesn't actually say very much.
Also, I couldn't help but notice this:
Why would the gender of the heart donors matter?
Re:As a biologist let me say... (Score:5, Insightful)
Neato. If this could be applied to human hearts, this could significantly open the options organ recipients have to save their lives.
I'm more interested in how this will effect the international market for organs.
Usually you have to go there, or the donor has to come here.
But if this translates to human physiology, organ trafficking will become a real problem.
Re:Great. What's in it? (Score:4, Insightful)
Why would the gender of the heart donors matter?
The question is, why wouldn't it? Do you know? I don't. Are you saying scientists should be less observant, record fewer details, ignore more facts? You might as well ask "Why bother mentioning that they were pig hearts, what would it matter?"
Are you offended at the obvious sexism inherent in the selection of two female pig hearts? Bothered by the fact that reality may not be politically correct?
Re:Great. What's in it? (Score:3, Insightful)
I would imagine commercial interests? They may want to keep such things hidden from other research teams until they are themselves published or secured patents?
One can also never rule out intentional hype prior to proven facts. Like this liquid i have here with 500 compounds in it, I neglect to mention all the rocks and dirt i just threw into a glass of water.
At last the secret fluid from reanimator (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Here's what's in it (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Another overblown statements in TFS today... (Score:3, Insightful)
You should have n^2 hot chicks! Just rinse and repeat.
Re:As a biologist let me say... (Score:5, Insightful)
And faster cars make it easier for criminals to get away from crime scenes.
And cash make it easier for criminals to hide their tracks.
And RFID embedded into the underside of the skull at birth would make it easier to track down criminals later in life.
A lot of the technology we have available or will develop in the foreseeable future has the potential to be used in bad ways. That doesn't mean we should stop developing them.
Re:As a biologist let me say... (Score:2, Insightful)
I don't want to see rich countries buying organs from poorer countries, especially if those organs belonged to someone who died from a poverty related illness. But they can make a law against that.
If someone dies from poverty all the more reason to give a windfall to their family so that maybe they won't have to die too. "Making a law" would drive up prices, but mostly for the middlemen, who as criminals would be more ruthless in exploiting donors or in creatively sourcing organs through murder.