Transplantation of human cells, tissues and organs have been used since the 1960’s from deceased and live donors to successfully treat disease within the human race. However, this has resulted in a demand for these desired organs that far exceed the supply. This need is only likely to increase with the never ending growth in population and the lifespans of humans increasing. The introduction of Xenotransplantation has provided another option to reduce the shortfall in organ donation. Xenotransplantation is the process of transplanting organs, tissues or cells from one species to another. To be successful in humans, xenotransplantation must overcome a series of issues including transplant rejection, cross species infecting and ethical issues. Other uses of Xenotransplantation include the use of injecting pig neural cells into people that have Parkinson’s or Huntington’s disease which could minimize the effect or ultimately cure the individual of that disease. This advance in technology could potentially save many millions of people suffering from chronic diseases.
Xenotransplantation has the potential to reduce the need for human organ donation as there would be adequate supply from animals such as pigs. A mass production of organs from animals would increase the survival of patients suffering from organ failure, more viable and healthy organs would become available and the need for human organs would decrease due to the harvesting of animal