Pig kidneys that were cooled to -150 °C and stored in a freezer for months have been successfully rewarmed and shown to work again for the first time, say scientists. They hope to replicate the findings with human organs. The kidneys—which are similar in size to human ones—were left in a glass-like state, in one case for over a year.
Once they had been rewarmed, tested in machines, and transplanted into pigs, the kidneys regained their color and made urine—key signs they were working. The kidneys aren’t perfect, and the researchers have yet to demonstrate that they can sustain life over the long term. But the results represent a milestone achievement, say others in the field.
Finally, we’ve got this breakthrough.” “Their work is amazing and will enable us to truly, indefinitely bank organs,” says Korkut Uygun, a biomedical engineer and professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School, who was also not involved in the research. These procedures are thought to have saved 2 million years of life in the last 25 years. But there’s plenty of room for improvement.
One major challenge is the lack of available organs. Even when an organ becomes available, it can be difficult to get it to the right recipient within 24 to 36 hours, which is the current limit for preserving human organs. People who receive organ transplants must also take drugs that suppress their immune systems for the rest of their lives.
These drugs are meant to stop their bodies from rejecting the new organs. But they come with side effects and increase the risk of infections and cancer. The ability to bank organs for long periods of time holds the promise to address all these challenges.
Doctors would have more time to match organs to recipients. They’d be able to limit the risk of organ rejection, too—potentially by preparing recipients, and their immune systems, beforehand. Scientists have been able to cool cells to ultra-low temperatures through a process called vitrification, which essentially turns them to something like glass.
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