Researchers say fluorescent cells (in this case, in the pigs) would show up during stem cell treatment of diseased organs, allowing physicians to monitor the healing progress.
Taiwanese researchers said they have bred the pigs, all of them males, with a fluorescent material in a move they hope will benefit the island's stem cell research effort. The fluorescent pigs are green from inside out, including their hearts and internal organs, said Wu Shinn-Chih, assistant professor of animal science at the prestigious National Taiwan University. There are partially green pigs elsewhere in the world but the Taiwanese pigs are said to be the only ones that are green from inside out.
The pigs are bred by injecting their embryos with fluorescent green protein taken from jelly fish. Pigs are commonly used to study human diseases, and Wu believes his technique will be useful in helping researchers monitor tissue changes over time.
STEM CELL RESEARCH. what is it?
Medicine today is moving rapidly toward the development of more effective cures for a host of diseases. In the past, doctors could usually only treat the symptoms of illness—treatments rarely addressed the causes of disease. Today, many of the cures being developed by scientists are based on advanced techniques that are able to target the causes of disease rather than simply treating the symptoms. One of those techniques is called stem cell therapy.
Stem cell therapy can be defined as a part of a group of new techniques, or technologies that rely on replacing diseased or dysfunctional cells with healthy, functioning ones. These new techniques are being applied experimentally to a wide range of human disorders, including many types of cancer, neurological diseases such as Parkinson's Disease and ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease), spinal cord injuries, and diabetes.
Transgenic Pigs
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