xenotransplantation
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With the shortage of human organs available for transplant, some work has been done to use pig and nonhuman primate tissues and organs instead. Some critics charge that this could lead to new, dangerous forms of disease if a pathogen that now only affects animals becomes communicable among humans.
Explanation
In xenotransplantation, living material is taken from a member of one species and put into a member of another species. You may have heard of someone having a heart valve replaced with one made out of tissue from a pig. That's an example of xenotransplantation. The word xenotransplantation is built from four main parts: xeno, "foreign," trans, "across," plant, "fix in place," and the suffix -tion, meaning "act or process." The transplanted organ or other tissue is "foreign" because it is from another species. Xenotransplantation from animals to people is uncommon and experimental, and it often makes big news when it happens. The human body's rejection of xenotransplants is a problem.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Russian state scientists appointed by Putin have focused on two key technologies: bioprinting, or 3D-printing living tissue, and xenotransplantation, or growing human organs inside mini-pigs, a porcine breed deemed genetically compatible to humans.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 29, 2026
Both have since died but helped advance xenotransplantation - the transplanting of living cells, tissues or organs from one species to another.
From BBC • Sep. 4, 2025
Unfortunately, xenotransplantation is a risky process because of the chance of tissue rejection.
From Salon • Jan. 29, 2025
For decades, proponents of so-called xenotransplantation have proposed replacing ailing human organs with those from animals.
From New York Times • May 12, 2024
The two results raised optimism that the long-struggling field of xenotransplantation can help alleviate a shortage of human organ donations.
From Science Magazine • Mar. 27, 2024
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
