Cleaner Living Conditions Make Pigs Better for Organ Transplants, Study Finds
- Yul So
- 4 days ago
- 1 min read
April 24, 2025
Yul So
The Rural Development Administration (RDA) in South Korea has found that pigs raised in cleaner, pathogen-free environments could be better suited for organ transplants into humans.
Pigs have long been considered one of the best candidates for xenotransplantation—transplanting organs from one species to another, because their organs are similar in size and function to human ones. But the RDA wanted to find out if the environment these pigs live in could affect how well their organs work for transplantation.
So, over 18 months, researchers compared pigs raised in ultra-clean, germ-free conditions with pigs raised in regular farm environments. They looked at things like body size, red and white blood cell counts, and hemoglobin levels.
As a result, pigs from the cleaner environments had more red blood cells and hemoglobin, but fewer white blood cells. This is significant because it implies that their immune systems are less active, which may reduce the likelihood that their organs will be rejected or result in infections following transplantation.
The study, published in the international journal Life (Impact Factor 3.2), shows that raising pigs in pathogen-controlled settings could improve both their overall health and the chances of successful organ transplants. Dr. Ryu Jae-gyu from the National Institute of Animal Science said the research offers valuable insight into how to raise and manage donor pigs. But he also pointed out that more research is needed, especially real transplant trials, to see how big the benefits really are.
