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Zoografting
The process of transplanting (transferring) a tissue from an animal to a human. The tissue that is transferred is known as a zoograft. An example of zoografting is when a heart valve from a pig is used to replace a damaged human heart valve. This can be done because a pig's inner body structure is similar to that of humans. A valve is a natural structure or man-made device in a passageway, tube, vessel, or hollow organ that allows fluid or partly fluid contents to travel in one direction, but closes to prevent the flow of those contents in the opposite direction.

The difference between zoografting and xenografting is that xenografting is when a tissue is transferred from one species of animal to another species. So whereas a zoografting always means that a tissue is transplanted from an animal to a human, xenografting does no always mean this, although it can mean this. For example, a xenograft can also be a tissue transplant from a pig to a gorilla. Zoografting is also known as an animal graft and a zooplasty. Zoografting comes from the Greek word "zoon" meaning "animal," and the Greek word "grapheion" meaning "a writing instrument." Put the words together and you have "animal writing instrument." The reason for this is because in a pencil-shaped instrument is used during grafting.

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