Heterograft

A heterograft is tissue transplanted into an organism of another species.

Heterotransplantation (transplantation of tissue between different species) is usually performed for research purposes. For example, human tissue can be transplanted into laboratory animals, such as mice or rats, to study the interaction of human cells and tissues with a recipient organism of another species.

With heterotransplantation, rejection of the transplanted tissue occurs due to incompatibility of tissue antigens of the donor and recipient. Therefore, immunosuppressive therapy is often used to prevent rejection. However, it is not yet possible to completely prevent heterograft rejection.

Heterotransplantation has limited use in clinical practice due to the high risk of rejection. However, research in this area helps to better understand the mechanisms of the immune response and the interaction of tissues of different species.