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@_sxrxhf

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If organ transplants are ethical, why do we use pig hearts ?
And why use pig hearts anyways if we share 90 something of our DNA with chimps ?

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thegodofgod

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(Original post by @_sxrxhf)
If organ transplants are ethical, why do we use pig hearts ?
And why use pig hearts anyways if we share 90 something of our DNA with chimps ?

I'm not 100% certain, but I think that it would mean killing fewer animals by using a pig's heart valve as pigs are already farmed for food.

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kanra

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There are more people who need heart transplants than there are donors. And even then, there are issues with rejection of the transplanted heart by the immune system - you can't just put any heart into any human.

I would imagine it's to do with heart rate as well. The pig heart beat is quite similar to the average human's; I think monkey hearts beat a lot quicker.

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Eloades11

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I can't add much to what's already been said. I'm also not an expert on organ transplants, especially hearts.

If you were to transplant an organ into a human, it would have to be structurally similar and a very close morphology to the host species. Pigs hearts are very similar when you consider it's structure and cell surface antigens in comparisons to humans. I don't think pigs hearts have been used to directly replace a human's one (don't quote me on that), but the pig's heart valve is an excellent candidate for tissue transplant into humans because they share similar surface antigens to humans, making them more accepted by the immune system.

Also, just because we may share 90% or so of our DNA with a chimpanzee doesn't mean our hearts will be structurally similar or identical to theirs. If we were to perform a gene transplant, it might be more appropriate

humans are said to share 50% of their DNA with a banana, I wouldn't like to imagine there will be any banana organ donors in the near future.

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2007PSanHa

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If organ transplants are ethical, why do we use pig hearts ? Because pigs are anatomically very similar to humans. The pigs from which the hearts are taken are grown specifically for their hearts, they are not the ones which are grown for the food industry. This is because, like blood, the antigens have to match and if they do not rejection can occur. For this reason, some of the antigens are "knocked out".
And why use pig hearts anyways if we share 90 something of our DNA with chimps ?
Because this may be seen as unethical as it would be like killing a human for their heart.
Hope I helped!

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@_sxrxhf

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(Original post by 2007PSanHa)
If organ transplants are ethical, why do we use pig hearts ? Because pigs are anatomically very similar to humans. The pigs from which the hearts are taken are grown specifically for their hearts, they are not the ones which are grown for the food industry. This is because, like blood, the antigens have to match and if they do not rejection can occur. For this reason, some of the antigens are "knocked out".
And why use pig hearts anyways if we share 90 something of our DNA with chimps ?
Because this may be seen as unethical as it would be like killing a human for their heart.
Hope I helped!

Thank You so much . It was very helpful !

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