Would it be possible for an animal, like humans for example an ape, to transplant a knee cap or something into the – Secondary 11

Question: Would it be possible for an animal, like humans for example an ape, to transplant a knee cap or something into the human body and if so would the knee would still work?
- Keywords:
  animal,
  knee,
  transplant
Asked by taneshad1 to Adam, Amylou, Mark L, Samantha on 11 Jun 2012.
- Mark Lewis answered on 11 Jun 2012:
  
  Maybe, if we could sort out the issues of rejection. However, there would be lots of questions asked about whether this would be an ethical thing to do.
- Samantha Wright answered on 12 Jun 2012:
  
  In theory this is definitely a possibility! But as Mark has said there are many issues that would need to be overcome first. There is currently lots of work being done on how we can take and use ideas from animals, such as heart valves etc.. so it may only be a matter of time!
  
  That said, we are getting pretty good at designing and making our own knee caps and entire knees out of man made materials – so we may not need the help of animals!

Question: Would it be possible for an animal, like humans for example an ape, to transplant a knee cap or something into the human body and if so would the knee would still work?