BRIEF HISTORY

The transplanting of animal organs into humans, or xenotransplantation, has long been considered a promising way to address the organ shortage. To accomplish human blood transfusions, the French physician Jean-Baptiste Denys first considered the concept of xenotransplantation in 1667. It is likely that the modest amount of sheep blood that his first patient, a 15-year-old boy, got and which allowed him to tolerate the allergic reaction, is what allowed him to miraculously survive the treatment. But after two more of Denys' patients passed away, the practice was quickly outlawed. In the 19th century, skin grafts gained popularity. Skin xenografts became popular in the 19th century. Surgeons had begun to use many species as donors, including rabbits, dogs, and even pigeons. Despite reports of miraculous cures, medical historians think that none of the grafts were successful in becoming permanent. They probably did little more than shield the ulcer underneath the skin and speed up the healing process of the lesion.

The first successful organ transplantation was made possible by a surgical technique developed by French surgeon Alexis Carrel at the turn of the 20th century (anastomosing/connecting blood vessels). Joseph E. Murray and his team at the Brigham Hospital in Boston successfully transplanted a kidney between two identical twin sisters in 1954. Soon after, the scarcity of donor organs stoked interest in animal sources once more. Professor Keith Reemtsman of Tulane University in Louisiana proposed the theory that human receivers may benefit from the functionality of monkey kidneys. Because of their strong evolutionary ties to humans, he chose the chimpanzee as a prospective donor. In 1963–1964, Reemtsman performed 13 kidney transplants from chimpanzees to humans. None of the patients made it through nine months; the majority all passed away within the first few weeks following surgery, underscoring the difficulty of our immune system. Despite the development of cyclosporine, the first immunosuppressive medicine created and utilized for an operation, other doctors, including Dr. Thomas E. Starzl, performed liver transplants on chimpanzees and several young people with the same disastrous results.

Dr. David Cooper, a pioneering heart transplant surgeon, started to make the case against using monkeys as human donors in the late 1980s. His major argument was that a human adult just can not have a monkey's heart, but a pig's heart could be a better option. The transplant of pig organs into people by Dr. Cooper was a failure.

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