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Introduction to Biotechnology
Published in Firdos Alam Khan, Biotechnology Fundamentals, 2020
With the help of genetic tools; it’s possible to knock out or inactivate a specific gene in animals; this technology is commonly known as Knockout Technology. Knockout technology creates a possible source of replacement organs from animals which can be used for human benefit. The process of transplanting cells, tissues, or organs from one species (animal) to another (human) is referred to as Xenotransplantation. Currently, pigs are considered as a viable source for the xenotransplantation in humans. But due to non-matching of pig tissues with human cells, there is a rejection of pig tissues/organs by the human body. The cause of rejection is because pig cells express a carbohydrate epitope (alpha 1, 3 galactose) on their cell surface that is not normally found in human cells. Upon transplantation of pig cells, humans can generate antibodies to this epitope, which will result in acute rejection of the xenograft. Research work has been done to minimize the immune rejection and with the help of genetic engineering; it’s now possible to either knock out or inactivate the pig gene (alpha1, 3 galactosyl transferase) that attaches this carbohydrate epitope on pig cells. Another example of knockout technology in animals is the inactivation of the prion-related peptide gene that may produce animals that are resistant to diseases associated with prions, such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, Creutzfeldt—Jakob disease, etc.
Ethics in biotechnology
Published in Firdos Alam Khan, Biotechnology Fundamentals, 2018
The controversial concept of cross-species transplantation, also known as xenotransplantation, has existed in myths and science fiction stories for a long time. Today, the lack of human organ donors has prompted an intense research effort throughout the medical community in the potential for animal organ transplants. Building on the overwhelming success of human-to-human transplantation, xenotransplantation aims to reduce the demand–supply gap for organs. In this section, we explore whether or not an individual who might benefit from xenotransplantation should be denied these benefits due to the ethical implications that accompany this practice on a mass scale. There are four components of xenotransplantation: (1) the individual receiving the xenograft, (2) the society that must incur the benefits and damages of decisions regarding xenotransplantation, (3) the long-term effect on humanity, and (4) the concern for animals used for humans’ benefits.
Extracorporeal devices
Published in Ronald L. Fournier, Basic Transport Phenomena in Biomedical Engineering, 2017
An interesting example of the use of affinity adsorption is described in Karoor et al. (2003). As mentioned in their paper, there is great interest in using animal organs as a means to address the shortage of human donor organs. This use of animal organs is also known as xenotransplantation, and pigs are receiving the most attention because of their adequate supply and the size of their organs is comparable to those in humans.
Functionalized acellular periosteum guides stem cell homing to promote bone defect repair
Published in Journal of Biomaterials Science, Polymer Edition, 2023
Guoqing Zhu, Yidi Zhou, Yichang Xu, Lingjun Wang, Meng Han, Kun Xi, Jincheng Tang, Ziang Li, Yu Kou, Xindie Zhou, Yu Feng, Yong Gu, Liang Chen
In the selection of in vivo experimental animal models, there are many types of commonly used animal bone defect models, such as the rat skull defect, rabbit skull defect, rabbit femoral condyle defect, and rabbit radial bone defect models. The rabbit skull defect model was used because the periosteum material used in this study was derived from rabbits [29]. Transplantation between the same species can avoid some adverse reactions to xenotransplantation which would otherwise prevent verification of the effect of the material in this study. In addition, the head of the rabbit is not easily affected by daily activities during the postoperative follow-up feeding process, and the graft is generally not dis-placed in this model. Various researchers utilize different sizes of artificially created defects in the rabbit skull defect model. Hollinger et al. defined a borderline bone defect as a bone defect that healed less than 10% over the lifespan of the animal. Borie et al. Lin et al. and Naitoa et al. selected an 8 mm diameter for the rabbit skull defect area [30–32]. There-fore, in this study, the defect diameter of the rabbit skull defect model was 8 mm, according to the standard procedure.