This study reviews international practices and experiences with brain-dead donor research in xenotransplantation and critically examines Korea’s current legal and ethical framework.

Preclinical xenotransplantation studies using non-human primates face critical limitations due to interspecies physiological differences, making direct translation to human clinical outcomes uncertain. To bridge this gap, research involving brain-dead donors has emerged internationally as an intermediate model, allowing evaluation of graft viability and immune compatibility under near-human physiological conditions.

Brain-dead individuals, sustained by life-support measures despite irreversible loss of brain function, offer unique opportunities for biomedical research beyond the capabilities of traditional models. Several xenotransplantation studies have successfully utilized this model to assess post-transplant outcomes and refine preclinical evaluation.

In Korea, however, brain-dead individuals are regarded solely as organ donors, and research involving them is prohibited. This reflects not only the legal and cultural view that brain death is inseparable from organ donation, but also a broader societal reluctance to fully accept brain death as true death.