Have you ever heard about xenotransplantation? It means transplanting animal organs such as the liver, heart, and kidney to humans. Researchers usually use pigs that have similar gene arrangement and the size of organs with humans. For this reason, they raise axenic mini pigs at asepsis condition with a huge budget.

The most recent example of xenotransplantation in South Korea is that Kunkuk University recently challenged the world record beyond the longest survival record for xenotransplantation. According to the research, they eliminated one kidney of a monkey and implanted it with a transgenic mini pig's kidney instead. After 11 days, researchers additionally replaced another kidney, so the monkey survived with the pig's kidney. About this research, Doctor Hwang Jun-ho in an animal model research group in the safety evaluation center said that through this study, it is expected to be a good model for presenting a policy guideline for evaluating the usefulness and safety of xenotransplantation technology, which is not yet clear. Like this case, active research has continued, like research cooperation between various companies. However, there are still several barriers to overcome in xenotransplantation technology.

The first one is immunologic barriers. When people implant organs or tissue from other animals into humans, the human immune system shows rejection, so it can cause death in a short time. To minimize this rejection, various methods are using like injecting immunosuppressant, but it has not yet achieved satisfactory results.

Another barrier is ethnological. Some people including animal rights groups strongly oppose killing animals to get their organs for human use. To use xenotransplantation technology, people raise animals and kill them for their needs. Those who oppose xenotransplantation believe that this is a violation of animal rights. Also, in the process of using pig and cow tissue, it faces religious opposition, too.

Xenotransplantation is a technology that implants other animals' organs into humans. If this technology develops well and is verified in terms of safety, it will be widely known as a life technology that can save many people. However, xenotransplantation is still facing immunological and ethnological barriers. The technology needs to be further developed to overcome these barriers and establish itself well.