Chimera: sheep have 15 per cent human cells and 85 per cent animal cells
Posted on 03/25/2007 10:57:38 AM PDT by Stoat
Scientists have created the world's first human-sheep chimera - which has the body of a sheep and half-human organs.
The sheep have 15 per cent human cells and 85 per cent animal cells - and their evolution brings the prospect of animal organs being transplanted into humans one step closer.
Professor Esmail Zanjani, of the University of Nevada, has spent seven years and £5million perfecting the technique, which involves injecting adult human cells into a sheep's foetus.
Chimera: sheep have 15 per cent human cells and 85 per cent animal cells
He has already created a sheep liver which has a large proportion of human cells and eventually hopes to precisely match a sheep to a transplant patient, using their own stem cells to create their own flock of sheep.
The process would involve extracting stem cells from the donor's bone marrow and injecting them into the peritoneum of a sheep's foetus. When the lamb is born, two months later, it would have a liver, heart, lungs and brain that are partly human and available for transplant.
"We would take a couple of ounces of bone marrow cells from the patient,' said Prof Zanjani, whose work is highlighted in a Channel 4 programme tomorrow.
"We would isolate the stem cells from them, inject them into the peritoneum of these animals and then these cells would get distributed throughout the metabolic system into the circulatory system of all the organs in the body. The two ounces of stem cell or bone marrow cell we get would provide enough stem cells to do about ten foetuses. So you don't just have one organ for transplant purposes, you have many available in case the first one fails."
At present 7,168 patients are waiting for an organ transplant in Britain alone, and two thirds of them are expected to die before an organ becomes available.
Scientists at King's College, London, and the North East Stem Cell Institute in Newcastle have now applied to the HFEA, the Government's fertility watchdog, for permission to start work on the chimeras.
But the development is likely to revive criticisms about scientists playing God, with the possibility of silent viruses, which are harmless in animals, being introduced into the human race.
Dr Patrick Dixon, an international lecturer on biological trends, warned: "Many silent viruses could create a biological nightmare in humans. Mutant animal viruses are a real threat, as we have seen with HIV."
Animal rights activists fear that if the cells get mixed together, they could end up with cellular fusion, creating a hybrid which would have the features and characteristics of both man and sheep. But Prof Zanjani said: "Transplanting the cells into foetal sheep at this early stage does not result in fusion at all."
|
|||||||
*****************************************************************************
Further reading
From 2003:
'Humanised' organs can be grown in animals - 17 December 2003 - New Scientist
And it wants to vote Democrat.
That's nothing. In the US, the government has produced humans who are 100% sheep.
Now what human could they have possible gotten... wait, doesn't that look like John Kerry?
How's your kids, John? Not baaad.
ROTFLMAO!!!!!
Oh, terrific. What are the odds that we can pass any laws against cloning, Frankenstein experimentation, or mix-and-matching between beasts and humans while Nancy Pelosi is in charge?
Is it just me, or does that sheep look very sad?
Matter of fact, it DOES look just like John Kerry.
The sheep looks like John Francois Kerry.
This could be a breakthrough for lonely guys.
THe year 1,000,000 AD, earth has been enslaved by Sheeple for 9,997,900 years....
I heard stories about sheep and shepards... it makes sense they'd want to make them more human... in some sick twisted way.
Giving new meaning to the word *sheeple*.
susie
It does have a long face....
susie
The organ recipients appear a bit sheepish.
"killlll meeeeeee.... killllll meeeeee..... killlll meeee... baaaah.... baaaahh...... kill meeeeee..... killl meeeee..... bahhhh.... bahhhh"
If I had to choose between dying and a 85%sheep/15%human liver. "Saint Peter, unlock the gates."
I am still not entirely sure about human organ transplants and I'm an organ donor!
HAHAHAHAHAH!
I gave my organ to the neighbors, but they never learned to play it.
"Now scientists create a sheep that's 15% human"
....and 100% INSANE...!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
