Comparative Physiology of Porcine and Human Heart
Introduction
The comparison of the body systems of various species of mammals has been surmised to bear significant findings that could hypothetically correlate the possible similarities with the human cardiac function. In the past, several other inquiries highlighting the comparative overview of the human cardiovascular system and the physiological mark-up of the porcine heart have been substantiated with medical research and experimentation. Despite these comparisons, there is still so much information yet to be explored and to be experimented with the currently available data. Thus, this study will focus on the in-depth comparison and the future applicability of the findings related to the similarities and the differences of the human and porcine cardiac physiology. Also, this study specifically sought to clarify the following questions: (a.) Is there any significant difference between the functions and the anatomy of porcine and human heart? (b.) What are the comparative implications of the findings?
Reasons for Selecting Porcine Heart
The instigation of cardiac transplants and open heart surgeries has revamped the ideas that hamper the examination of other viable alternatives. In relation to the growing concern pertaining to the onset of cardiac diseases in humans, there still exists a perpetual exigency to effectuate other options for research. Correspondingly, the perceived requirements for human and mammalian cardiac comparison entails that both of the organs being compared must share close resemblance to the human anatomical structure. In conjunction with this premise, the closest animal that bears almost complete resemblance with the aforementioned criteria is the swine per se. The porcine heart, as compared to other mammals’ hearts, has generally the same anatomical presentation with very slight variation. Hence, the comparative frame of reference denoting the utilization of this output could yield a comprehensive overview of the difference and similarities of the human heart physiology and that of the swine’s cardiac hemodynamics.
The Porcine Heart Physiology
The human heart is composed of 4 chambers that complementarily functions to supplement the body’ s demands. As compared to the porcine heart, the human heart is dorsoventral compressed with varying distinction in the morphology and topography. In conjunction to this comparison, the swine’s cardiac anatomy significantly differs in such as manner that the positional variation of the swine’s heart (rotated counterclockwise) while the left ventricle and left atrium faces caudally, whereas the right atrium and ventricle are cranially situated (Hilbert et al., 2015). Despite the configurational distinction between the human and the porcine heart, the vasculature and the modal arrangements of the similar anatomic positions (ex. both humans and swines’ conduction markers are predominantly catered by the posterior septal artery) render the swine’s heart a viable organ for future studies (Alejandro et al., 2015). This important anatomical discovery is the rationale behind why most of the human heart studies on surgeries and transplant consider the transfer of porcine heart.
Hypothesis of The Study
HO 1 – There is no significant difference the porcine heart physiology and the human cardiac functioning.
Materials and Methodology
This study will employ a systematic literature review and meta-analysis highlighting the different researches related to the application, examination, investigation and experimentation of porcine heart. To sift through the most current and updated studies on porcine heart literature, the guided search will include all of the literature search based on the following inclusion criteria; (a.) All of the included literature that focuses on the comparison of porcine and human heart, (b.) studies on morphology and topography of the porcine heart (c.) studies not more than 10 years from the current date. Subsequently, exclusion criteria will be based on the following points; (a.) Studies more than 10 years of age from the current date (b.) studies highlighting the comparison of mammalian heart other than the porcine heart. Following these key points, the data collection procedure will be based on the said inclusion and exclusion criteria. Moreover, the data analysis and processing will be done through a narrative meta-analysis of literature findings and a numerical pooling of results (summary statistics = median, mode, standard deviation etc.)
The selection of this research design is appropriate for the study as it entails the qualitative consolidation and accumulation of research outputs. One of the advantages of employing a meta-analysis design is that it conclusively arrays the consistency of results and easily presents a definitive finding on a particular topic (Gopalakrishnan& Ganeshkumar, 2013). Since the comparison of the porcine and human heart would require extensive simulation and large amount of resources, the meta-analysis of results is perceived as a cost-efficient method of approaching the problem as it comprehensively presents the evidences and the results of various studies without significantly altering the consistency of the findings (Ahn & Kang, 2018).
Results/ Meta-analysis of findings
In a study conducted by Lelovas et al.,(2014) the porcine heart resembles a paralleled physiologic and anatomical relevance with the human heart. According to the study’s findings, the swine’s heart reflected an ideal similarity with the human cardiac physiology in terms of the hemodynamics, electrophysiology, coronary circulation and the relative size and proximal distance to other organs in the body. In terms of the hemodynamics, the porcine heart delivers high similarity with the human heart’s ventricular and atrial hemodynamic efficiency (left and right atrioventricular systolic/diastolic pressure similar to that of the humans). Consequently, the right coronary dominancy and the positional of the relative veins and arteries in the heart was also found to be highly similar to that of the human heart (swine’ heart has a similar intraventricular vascularization). It can also be gleaned that the conduction of the electrical impulses is entirely synchronized with the electrical pattern of the human heart.
From these findings, another interesting inquiry was instigated to show the porcine interatrial septum anatomy. In one study conducted, 75 swine hearts of the Sus scrofa f. domestica were examined to show the similarities between the interatrial septum. In this study, patent foramen oval channel and right SP were found to be significantly similar while the average length of the foramen oval yielded a result of 7.1±1.5mm. Invariably, the mean depth, width and height of the ostium were found to be relative to the anatomical measurements of the human heart with 5.8±1.2 and 5.3±1.6mm, respectively (Hołda et al., 2018).
Conclusion
From these results, it can be noted that the plausible explanation behind the similarities in the anatomical measurements and the physiological functions stems from the irrefutable structural congruency. Moreover, pigs develop and grow exponentially faster compared to other mammals which makes them an even more ideal substitute for comparison and experimentation. The entailing implication and significance of these findings is that porcine heart could prove beneficial in the potential applications in biomedical research. Inadvertently, the propensity that future research regarding the application of this topic in the improvement of heart transplant and open-heart surgeries is unequivocally high. From this point of view, it can also be noted that the null hypothesis (there is no significant difference in porcine heart physiology and human cardiac functioning) is accepted.
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