American successfully created embryo hybrid sheep - human

The crossbreeding of sheep and humans helps researchers get closer to human organs in the body of transplants.

Scientists claim to create a successful hybrid - a second animal based on a controversial breakthrough in 2017, according to National Geographic. Although sheep embryos contain 0.01% of human cells that are not allowed to grow beyond 28 days of age, this achievement helps researchers to come closer to the goal of cultivating medical transplant organ transplant organs.

Every hour, 6 Americans are added to the waiting list and every day, 22 people on the list die. In the United States alone, more than 100,000 people need a heart transplant every year but only about 2,000 people are donated.

Pregnancy embryos inject human stem cells at 4 weeks of age.(Photo: National Geographic).

To meet the demand, researchers are working to expand the supply of artificial organs. Some people try printing 3D organs in the lab. Other scientists developed artificial mechanical organs. Some are creating hybrids between the two species in hopes of raising human organs in pigs or sheep.

To create hybrids, the researchers separated the stem cells of an animal. Stem cells can develop into any type of cell in the body. Later, they injected a stem cell into a embryo of another species. If the embryo's DNA is cut to not develop into a specific organ, the injected cell will be the only option to fill the gap. For example, researchers can feed human liver inside a living pig.

In 2017, the team used the method to successfully cultivate mice 'mice' pancreas and demonstrated that these pancreas transplants could help treat diabetes in infected mice. Not long after, researchers at the Salk Institute, California, USA, said they could keep embryos injected with human stem cells to survive for 28 days.

Stem cell experts extolled the human-pig study, but emphasized the incidence of pig embryonic stem cells (about 0.001%) too low for successful organ transplants. At the 2018 annual meeting of the American Advanced Science Association, which took place on February 17 in Austin, Texas, researcher Pablo Ross from the University of California, Davis, said he and his colleagues adjusted the process. and increased the proportion of sheep embryonic stem cells to 0.01%.

"We think that rate may not be enough to produce organs," Ross said. For successful organ transplants, human cells must account for about 1% of embryos. To prevent the immune system from eliminating, researchers need to take more steps to ensure the remaining animal viruses are removed from the pig or sheep's DNA.

According to Ross, research can be accelerated if there is a higher budget. Ross and his colleagues acknowledge the controversial nature of the study but emphasize that they are proceeding cautiously.