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Japanese technology could grow human organs into animals
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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Professor Hiromitsu Nakauchi will head a new research project on growing human organs. The uniqueness of the new project is that Japanese specialists are planning an experiment in the near future on growing human organs in the body of animals, namely pigs. According to the researchers themselves, if the project is successful, the use of such technology will be possible in the next decade.
The scientists shared their plans for future experiments. The first step in the experimental work will be to change the DNA of an animal embryo so that the animal does not develop a pancreas. Then the embryo with induced human stem cells will be introduced into the body of an adult female pig. Experts assume that the human cells will adapt to the animal's body, and eventually the pig will develop a functioning pancreas.
The scientists also noted that if the experiment is successful, it will be impossible to use the entire organ for transplantation into a human, but such technology will allow the cultivation of certain pancreatic cells responsible for insulin levels.
The main goal of the experiment is to determine the most suitable conditions necessary for the normal growth of tissues or organs suitable for subsequent transplantation into humans.
In addition, in their research, scientists will try to create another human organ - the liver, which will allow them to develop new methods of treating cancerous tumors. Also, specialists will test new types of drugs on organs grown in an unusual way.
Stem cells have received much attention since Professor Shinya Yamanaka of Japan won the Nobel Prize for his research in this area three years ago. Moreover, interest in regenerative medicine has emerged not only among scientists and ordinary citizens, but also among government agencies.
Regeneration has become one of the important areas in science and medicine, but in Japan the law prohibits the use of animals to grow organs. Professor Nakauchi's research project was also banned, for this reason all work will be carried out at the private research university named after Leland Stanford (California).
It is worth noting that after a certain chemical influence, induced pluripotent stem cells can develop into any type of cell. Theoretically, any organs or tissues can be obtained from such stem cells, but transplantation of such organs into the human body significantly increases the risk of developing cancerous tumors.
In 1895, Thomas Morgan, while experimenting on frogs, first noticed that when some of the embryonic cells were removed during the zygote cleavage stage, the remaining cells could regenerate the entire embryo. This discovery meant that such cells could change during development, and that this process could be controlled.
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