Question 2
Autograft is the tissue transplanted from one part of the body to another in the same individual. Also known as an autotransplant. Common examples of autografts are skin transplants in burn patients and bypass surgery in patients suffering from coronary heart disease.
Allograft is the transplant of an organ or tissue from one individual to another of the same species with a different genotype. For example, a transplant from one person to another, but not an identical twin, is an allograft. Allografts account for many human transplants, including those from cadaveric, living related, and living unrelated donors. Also known as an allogeneic graft or a homograft.
Xenotransplantation involves the transplantation of nonhuman tissues or organs into human recipients. Experiments have been performed on transplants of bone marrow, hearts, neurons and other tissues from baboons, chimpanzees and pigs, with limited success in terms of patient survival or organ functionality. However, pig and cow heart valves are commonly used in human patients.
Suppression of the immune system and its ability to fight infection. Immunosuppression may result from certain diseases, such as AIDS or lymphoma, or from certain drugs, such as some of those used to treat cancer. Immunosuppression may also be deliberately induced with drugs, as in preparation for bone marrow or other organ transplantation, to prevent the rejection of a transplant.
Question 3
The development in 1954 was the first successful kidney transplant between two identical twins. Richard and Ronald Herrick were identical twins. Although, Richard was dying of a kidney disease, Ronald donated one of his kidneys which was successfully transplanted into Richard because they were identical twins, the kidney did not appear foreign to Richards body and therefore it did not reject it.
Later on, doctors we’re trying to find ways of tricking human bodies into not rejecting the transplanted healthy organs, the doctors discovered that drugs such as Immunosuppression allowed many different transplants to be more successful, including kidney transplants. Immunosuppression was a pill that helped the organs function with the body to prevent the rejection of a transplant.
Question 4
From the graph I can identify that the number of donors has stayed at a fairly constant rate. The number of donors had gradually decreased between 1995 and 1999. Between 2000 and 2002 the number of donors has stayed the same not showing much of a change, although, in 2003, the number of donors had dropped by 60 and then had increased in 2004 to 813.
The number of people receiving transplant has stayed at a fairly constant rate. The minimum number of people that have received transplants between 1995 and 2004 was 2222 and the highest was 2780.
From the graph, I can see that the number of people needing transplant has gradually increased from 6003 in 1995 to 7725 in 2004. The problem that this trend shows is that there will be an increasingly large demand for people needing transplant; this will be much greater than countries such as UK can supply and therefore they won’t be able to meet the supply of transplants. In addition, it may and could cause many more people to die while waiting for transplants, at the moment, around 4,000 people die each year just by waiting for transplants.
Science and technology may help overcome problems such as these because of the research being done into the possibility of Xenotransplant, this is when an organ is transplanted from one particular species to another. Many scientists believe that pigs would be the best use for this purpose, as some of their organs are similar in size and we already use heart valves successfully for replacing those damaged in humans.
Advantages of using animals as organ donors for humans
Once medical xenotransplantation will become available, the demand and the supply for organs will be equivalent and therefore it will be possible to offer transplantation to all the patients on the waiting list. Many of the patients in different countries wait years for an organ, by using animals as organ donors for humans, all of the transplantation can be performed without any delay and therefore death on the waiting list will be avoided.
Another advantage of using animals as organ for donors is that many diseases and viruses that affect humans but not animals can be stopped. Animal donors can be genetically engineered to fight selected diseases and therefore make the human body immune to those diseases.
Disadvantages of using animals as organ donors for humans
The disadvantages of using animals as organ donors for humans is that many of the worlds religious such as Islam believe that animals have rights, aswell as humans, and therefore should be left to live normally without the fear of murder.
Furthermore, there is a small possibility that diseases can be spread with every transplant, these diseases could seriously harm the patient and leave them in pain for a long period of time.
In my opinion, using animals as organ donors for humans is a good idea, even though many people and even religions disagree with it, it will help many patients in need of these organs and therefore reduce the time people have to wait for their transplant. This then therefore will save many lives in the future.
References
http://www.nationmaster.com
Transplant Coursework
The organs and tissues that have been successfully transplanted since 1950 are the kidney and
pancreas, heart, lungs, liver/liver lobe. The two most common transplants are the kidney and the
cornea.
Autograft - Tissue or bone transplanted from one site on an individual’s body to another site.
Allograft - An organ or tissue transplanted from one individual to another of the same species,
i.e. human to human.
Immunosuppression - The artificial suppression of the immune response, usually through drugs,
so that the body will not reject a transplanted organ or tissue.
Xenotransplant - Transplant of the organs of one species into another.
http://www.uktransplant.org.uk
The development in 1954 was the first successful transplant, a kidney transplant between two
identical twins. Richard and Ronald Herrick were identical twins, but Richard was dying of kidney
disease. Ronald donated one of his kidneys, and it was successfully transplanted into Richard.
Because they were identical twins, the organ did not appear foreign to Richard's body, and so
did not reject it.
The development was the idea of rejection of transplants through the immune system - immune
response. This then lead to the use of immunosuppressant’s such as cyclosporine.
Immunosuppressant is needed to weaken the body so the organ and tissue can be transplanted.
Transplants of eyes and skin were the first to be attempted and the kidney was the first ever
organ to be transplanted. The first kidney transplant patients had a good recovery at the start,
but then died soon after. It was discovered that recipients formed antibodies against their
transplants that the first successful transplant occurred between two twins who would not
reject their twin’s kidney as it was the same as theirs. http://science.education.nih.gov
After this, Doctors tried to find ways of “tricking” the body into not rejecting the transplanted
new, healthy organ. The first way was by bombarding the patient with X-rays, but this lead to
the death of many patients. Doctors then discovered that drugs, such as cyclosporine could be
used to suppress the immune system. The above development of ideas and techniques led to
today’s transplant success.
There has been on a steady decline from 1995 – 2003 in number of organ donors, and then an
increase in 2004. This could be down to advertising campaign done by the UK transplant
organisation. Trends in number of people receiving transplants has also been on a gradual
decrease until 2004 where it increased. This could be down to the number of donor’s increasing.
The number of people on transplant list this shows a massive steady increase in the number of
people needing transplants and it is way above the number of transplants, I think this is
increasing because it is higher than the number of transplants as more and more people are
waiting.
Science and technology may help overcome these problems by the research being done into the
possibility of Xenotransplant, where an organ is transplanted from one species to another.
Originally it was thought that primates could be used, such as chimpanzees, but many scientists
think this unethical as chimpanzees, and many other primates, are endangered species.
The next alternative solution was to use pigs for this purpose, as they are of similar size and it
would ethically ok and we already use heart valves successfully for replacing those damaged in
humans. However the human immune system will attack any pig tissue.
http://www.uktransplant.org.uk
The disadvantages of using animal’s organ donor for humans is that there’s a small possibility of
primates diseases with the transplant to the human which could seriously harm the patient and
could even cause a large epidemic. Some religions such as Islam do not accept humans to have a
pig’s organ because it’s seen as dirty and unclean. Many people believe that animals too have
rights, just like humans, and therefore have the right to live without fear of murder and not be
killed off for the purpose of helping humans by providing organs for transplants and therefore
we should not exploit the animals for our benefit. http://www.pbs.org
In my opinion I think xenotransplantation is an excellent idea. We have yet to know what affect
this will have on the environment and future generations. On the other hand if you use a animals
organ it easily makes up for the shortage of organ donors, it will cut people off the waiting list.
We also understand about animal biology so we can use them, it is also easier to get a match. We
eat animals such as sheep cow etc so there should be no objection to why we should not use
animal’s organ for transplant.
