University of Minnesota swine heart
At the University of Minnesota, researchers have a swine heart beating outside the body. The organ functions without a pacemaker and stays connected to machines that keep it oxygenated. It relies on its own internal electrical system. This is not a simulation. It is a real organ continuing to beat after removal from the chest. The setup demonstrates how the heart can maintain its rhythm independently once properly supported by external equipment.
Transcript (en)
This is an isolated swine heart. The idea is to replicate the physiological conditions that the heart will be in in the body. So the heart is able to beat with its own intrinsic conduction system so it's beating by itself without a pacemaker and we're able to do research on the heart whilst it's beating. We use a clear perfusate, a blood substitute which has the salts that blood has in it so we're interested in looking at how those devices actually interact with the heart and how they affect the conduction system.
