Universal donor and organs?

[Majesty]

Hello,

I'm not quite sure if my question fits in this forum, but there is nowhere else I could post it, so there goes.

A question came to my mind yesterday and I'd like to have an answer. I've asked around and searched on the web, but I've found nothing... I am a universal donor (O-) and I was wondering if my organs, at my death, will be transplantable to anyone?

Thank you

 

[presidentender]

It's not just blood type. The blood in the organs will match, yes. The cell markers on the organs themselves will be different, and unless the recipient matches for all immunity factors, he'll have to take immunosuppressants to avoid rejecting them.

 

[Majesty]

Thanks! It confirms what I thought.

 

[ubercaffeinated]

Originally posted by: presidentender
It's not just blood type. The blood in the organs will match, yes. The cell markers on the organs themselves will be different, and unless the recipient matches for all immunity factors, he'll have to take immunosuppressants to avoid rejecting them.

and even with immunosuppressants, the body will reject them over time. basically the more perfused the organ is, the faster it will be rejected. part of this is because of immuno markers called HLA, of which are incredibly difficult to match, even within family members. the more HLA markers that match between donor and host, the longer the graft organ will survive in the new host.