研究人员将测试给人移植猪皮未来或无需人类捐献皮肤_BEC初级作文

研究人员将测试给人移植猪皮未来或无需人类捐献皮肤

皮肤是人体最大的器官，可阻止病原体侵入人体脆弱的体内器官，因此在免疫系统中发挥着至关重要的作用。此外，皮肤可锁住水分、电解质及其他营养物质，还可帮助人体保持体温稳定。皮肤严重受损者因体温或水合状态的改变而患致命性感染或器官衰竭的风险很高。

electrolytes [i'lektrə,laits] n.电解质；电解质类

Skin grafts can help protect these patients as they heal. At the moment, the only skin grafts available in the US come from cadavers who have agreed to be organ donors, or patients who have undergone surgery to remove excess skin after dramatic weight loss. These human skin used for grafts are a “rare commodity.”

移植皮肤可在患者痊愈过程中对患者加以保护。当前，在美国获取移植皮肤的唯一途径是使用同意捐献器官者死后留下的皮肤，或因体重严重下降做多余皮肤去除术的患者皮肤。用于移植的人类皮肤可谓是“稀缺商品”。

XenoTherapeutics, which gets its name from xenotransplantation, or animal-to-human transplants, has bred pigs that have skin remarkably similar to our own. Although pig skin normally produces a type of sugar human skin does not, these pigs have been genetically modified not to make it. Grafts from these pigs are therefore more likely to slide under the radar of the host’s immune system—at least temporarily. The idea is that they could be used for immediate burn treatment, followed human skin graft treatment later.