h a l f b a k e r yQuis custodiet the custard?
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//Not quite as stupid as it sounds// [Marked-For-Tagline] |
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You may find that (a) heart muscle needs to be supplied with substances bigger than glucose to survive in the longer term, and (b) it may be difficult to find a membrane //which would prevent passage of anything larger than glucose// but which would allow passage of glucose. |
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I realise that (a) and (b) partly cancel each other; still, that membrane may be your biggest hurdle. |
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//Why a pig?// Pigs seem to be the standard model for xenotransplants, because they are similar to humans in structure and size. (Alternative answer: Why not a pig?) |
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It may turn out to be easier to grow some heart muscle from the patient's own stem cells. |
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It helps that glucose is far smaller than even the
tiniest protein. Most relatively small messenger
chemicals- insulin, testosterone, the like- are
interchangable among species as close as humans and
pigs, that's why people with diabetes used to be
treated with insulin taken from slaughtered farm
animals. |
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From Wikipedia: "Dialysis tubing is permeable to glucose, but not to any starches or proteins"; it's also permeable to salts, so that part is solved. Oxygen may be a problem, unless you can keep some red blood cells circulating in there. |
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Oh snap forgot about oxygen. |
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Why don't you use the patient's own muscle? (see linked patent) |
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Why not use the person's own diaphragm? It is always moving (as long as they are alive). |
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Actually, [DIYMatt], that's not a bad idea either. A
blood-pump powered by breathing... |
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This could explain my increased desire to hunt for truffles... |
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/A blood-pump powered by breathing.../ |
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I think I have read about schemes to augment the heart by wrapping it in a latissimus dorsi muscle and triggering the lat to contract with a pacemaker device. The lat is more dispensible than the diaphragm. |
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Re magic membranes: if you could put cells inside them and have them live in a little immune sanctuary they could do all sorts of wondrous things much beyond this. |
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/permeable to salts, so that part is solved/ |
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Or dissolved as the case may be. |
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Atrial natriuretic peptide? |
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Next up, wheelchairs powered by legs, homes heated by setting them afire, and plants that grow like weeds... |
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