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One of the main challenges of making an artificial heart is
powering it. Current models need constant outside power,
and even the best can run for only half an hour without a
wearable battery pack. I propose an artificial heart with the
mechanical pump powered by heart muscle taken from a pig.
The pig tissue would be fed by sugars from the patient's own
blood, which would pass through an osmotic membrane before
and after entering the pig tissue which would prevent passage
of anything larger than glucose, in order to prevent immune
interaction between the pig and human tissue. The pig tissue
would be entirely sealed except for these membranes.
US 5814102
http://www.google.c...&dq=US5814102&hl=en
[xaviergisz, Feb 06 2012]
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Annotation:
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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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