Improved donor organ preservation method for transplantation

Contact: [email protected] Fax: +81-78-306-3090 RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology Improved donor organ preservation method for transplantation July 1, 2015– Organ transplantation is an approach considered by medical specialists to replace an organ that can no longer carry out essential physiological functions. Despite many advancements in transplantation research, there are still several hurdles that need to be overcome to improve success rates and access to organ transplantation. Static cold preservation systems are currently used to preserve donor organs prior to transplantation, but they can only maintain the organs in healthy states for a relatively short period—from a few hours to less than a day depending on the organ. Thus, new methods to store organs in healthy conditions for longer periods are needed, as this will improve transplant success rates. There is also a worldwide shortage of organs available for transplantation, as the number of patients waitlisted for organ transplants continues to grow with no corresponding rise in the number of suitable donors or donor organs, necessitating the development of methods to expanding the use of organs from marginal donors, whose organ health may not be considered ideal for transplantation, to increase the donor organ pools.