Could this Chinese breakthrough pave way for global organ transplant system?
Researchers in China report reviving and transplanting animal organs after freezing them at sub-zero temperatures for several days
“If just half of the currently discarded transplant hearts in the US could be preserved and used, we could clear the entire US waiting list for organ transplants within two to three years,” the paper noted, citing data from the main donor registry in the United States.
“Extending the low-temperature preservation time of the heart to 24 hours would provide patients with a larger time window, which may save more lives.”
Hearts have the shortest preservation time – at just six hours after leaving the donor – and consequently the highest discard rate. Lungs can remain viable for nine hours, while liver transplants have a 12-hour window and kidneys can be preserved for 24 hours.
This limits how far and for how long organs can be transported. Helicopters are used in the US to expand the organ transport radius, while high-speed trains are employed in China.
However, with preservation still limited to a single day – or as little as six hours – organ transplants remain more like emergency procedures than elective surgeries with scheduled dates.
The study, by scientists from the State Key Laboratory of Cryogenic Science and Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, may change all of this.
According to the paper, which was published on February 10, the researchers were able to vitrify and cryopreserve animal kidneys in liquid nitrogen at minus 150 degrees Celsius (minus 238 Fahrenheit) for seven days before successfully reviving and transplanting them.
In an interview in the June edition of Sci-Tech Innovation and Brands magazine published by the Chinese Association for Science and Technology, team leader and corresponding author Rao Wei outlined some of the research team’s achievements.
“Currently, the preservation time for experimental animal hearts in our lab has been extended from six hours in clinical settings to 24 hours, and kidney preservation at liquid nitrogen temperatures has been extended from 24 hours to seven days,” she said.
According to Rao, the researchers developed a low-temperature perfusion system that can precisely control temperature and oxygen flow during transport while lowering the organ’s temperature to minus 10 degrees.
While these measures could one day extend the time that organs remained viable outside the human body, the technological advance could become a double-edged sword – potentially enabling broader transnational organ smuggling.
Historically, organ-related crimes in the region have been concentrated in Southeast Asia, particularly in northern Myanmar and Thailand, where there is a highly complex criminal ecosystem which includes electronic fraud parks, according to a Phoenix TV report last year.
Quoting a source in northern Myanmar, the Hong Kong-based broadcaster said the “profit” for a pair of kidneys on the Southeast Asian black market was about 300,000 yuan (US$40,000) if a match was successful.
The World Health Organization has acknowledged that the shortage of organs can lead to illegal activities, such as trafficking in body parts for transplants, saying on its website that ethical concerns “are a major issue”.
Research into alternatives was progressing but even when they became available, high costs might limit access, the WHO said. “For now, ensuring access to human cells, tissues, and organs for transplantation remains critical.”
The South China Morning Post contacted Rao for comment but did not receive a response before publication.
According to the paper, the device was developed entirely by the Chinese researchers and integrated with their own physiological monitoring and control software to independently manage organ status and perfusion parameters throughout the process.
The device is being tested on rat hearts and on kidneys from rabbits and pigs. During a 300-minute perfusion, organ temperature was slowly reduced to minus 5 degrees. The instrument’s minimum perfusion temperature is minus 10 degrees.
Rao said the researchers had also validated the use of this system for the exploration of cryopreserved vitrified organs by replacing intracellular water with a preservation solution and storing them at minus 150 degrees under liquid nitrogen.
This method, which gives the organs a glasslike appearance, uses high-concentration cryoprotectants (CPAs) and rapid cooling to prevent ice crystal formation and avoid cellular damage, according to the paper.
For long-term organ vitrification to be successful, it would require uniform and sufficient CPA penetration – conditions that may one day be possible with the newly developed perfusion system, it said.
Could China build an ‘army of centaurs’ with this non-invasive cyborg tech?
Chinese scientists develop a wearable human-robot device enabling soldiers to carry heavy loads in rugged terrain
Chinese researchers have developed a wearable human-robot hybrid device that could transform soldiers into mighty “centaurs”, enabling them to push beyond their physical limits while walking and hauling loads in brutal environments.
The system, developed by a group at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in Shenzhen, consists of two independent robotic legs and a robotic torso, attached to the user via an elastic interface so that the human and machine together form a four-legged human-centaur.
