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Updated: Aug 17, 2026

Quantification of Circulating Pig-Specific DNA in the Blood of a Xenotransplantation Model
Published on: September 22, 2020
Purine metabolism in pigs and humans and its implications for xenotransplantation
R T Smolenski1, Z Khalpey, A C Yuen
1Heart Science Centre, Imperial College at Harefield Hospital, UK. r.smolenski@Imperial.co.uk
Abstract:
We compared concentrations of nucleotide substrates and activities of enzymes of nucleotide metabolism in pig and human blood, heart, and kidney. The most important difference was lower ecto-5-nucleotidase (ESN) activity in both pig hearts and kidney. Furthermore, higher hypoxanthine, inosine, adenine, and uracil, but lower uridine and uric acid concentrations were observed in pig blood as compared to human. A twofold increase in UTP concentration has been observed in pig hearts following 4 h perfusion with human blood. Purine metabolism is an important target for genetic and pharmacological manipulation during xenotransplantations.

