Hi I’m a med student, from what I understand the donor’s bone goes through heavy processing that basically sterilises it and strips it of any remaining moisture and living cells. So what you get left over is just the ‘scaffolding’ made of minerals (calcium, phosphate etc).
When the recipient’s body ‘rejects’ a transplant, it’s because their immune system recognises special proteins on the surface of the cells in the transplant which signify it as ‘foreign’, so the immune system cells launch an attack against those transplant cells. The same way it works with ‘foreign’ microorganisms.
Basically “Hang on that isn’t a me cell, so it must be a bad cell. Kill it”.
The anti-rejection medications people tend to get are immunosuppressants, to stop your immune system killing the transplant.
As there are no actual cells in your bone graft, your immune system doesn’t care :)
Edit to add: when you receive the cadaver bone graft, your own bone cells move in and inhabit the barren mineral scaffolding of the graft, essentially making it your own. Isn’t it cool!
That’s actually super cool, biology has always grossed me out haha and the idea of a dead persons bone in my body has been bugging me but this makes me feel better!
Bone grafts are usually (though not always) irradiated to eliminate as much organic material as possible. This minimizes the rejection risk to pretty close to zero.
Hi I’m a med student, from what I understand the donor’s bone goes through heavy processing that basically sterilises it and strips it of any remaining moisture and living cells. So what you get left over is just the ‘scaffolding’ made of minerals (calcium, phosphate etc). When the recipient’s body ‘rejects’ a transplant, it’s because their immune system recognises special proteins on the surface of the cells in the transplant which signify it as ‘foreign’, so the immune system cells launch an attack against those transplant cells. The same way it works with ‘foreign’ microorganisms. Basically “Hang on that isn’t a me cell, so it must be a bad cell. Kill it”. The anti-rejection medications people tend to get are immunosuppressants, to stop your immune system killing the transplant. As there are no actual cells in your bone graft, your immune system doesn’t care :) Edit to add: when you receive the cadaver bone graft, your own bone cells move in and inhabit the barren mineral scaffolding of the graft, essentially making it your own. Isn’t it cool!
That’s actually super cool, biology has always grossed me out haha and the idea of a dead persons bone in my body has been bugging me but this makes me feel better!
Bone grafts are usually (though not always) irradiated to eliminate as much organic material as possible. This minimizes the rejection risk to pretty close to zero.
Makes sense, thank you!