![\"Scientists](\"https:\/\/wordpress-assets.futurism.com\/2024\/11\/doctors-intrigued-brains-back-dead-300x158.jpg\")
<\/div>Scientists were astonished to find that recirculating a cocktail of preserving agents through a severed pig's head caused the animal's brain to show signs of life.<\/p>
As New Scientist<\/em> reports<\/a>, basic cellular functions were restored in the dismembered brain — something that was previously thought impossible following the cessation of blood flow.<\/p> While the pig brain wasn't exactly oinking at the farm after the treatment, in scientifically significant ways it was <\/em>seemingly brought back from the brink of death — a ghoulish experiment that could have implications for future efforts to reanimate a dead human brain as well.<\/p> In fact, Yale School of Medicine neuroscientist Zvonimir Vrselja and his colleagues are looking to try the technique on human brains — efforts, needless to say, that could have thorny ethical ramifications.<\/p> For one, the definition of when a person has died has remained a lively debate<\/a> among health practitioners.<\/p> \"We are trying to be transparent and very careful because there’s so much value that can come out of this,\" Vrselja told New Scientist<\/em>.<\/p> Some argue that death occurs when the heart stops beating. Others define it as the point when the brain's functions cease entirely.<\/p> Things get murkier when you consider that neuroscientists have already found<\/a> that brain activity can extend far beyond cardiac arrest. In fact, research has found that the brain can even light up when the heart stops beating.<\/p> \"The dying brain actually starts this massive rescue effort,\" University of Michigan neuroscientist Jimo Borjigin told New Scientist<\/em>.<\/p> Borjigin found in a 2023 study<\/a> that the brain \"appeared to be on fire\" after four dying people were taken off of life support.<\/p> \"If we can better understand what’s going on at this point, I believe we could resuscitate it,\" he added.<\/p> Vrselja and his colleagues are at the forefront of those efforts, having developed a special drug cocktail called BrainEx that stops the brain from being damaged by the sudden surge of oxygen-rich blood following brain death.<\/p> In a 2019 experiment<\/a> involving pig brains, the researchers managed to bring some activity back four hours after decapitation.<\/p> But even getting remotely near the point of consciousness with a donated human brain could have major ethical ramifications, forcing the team to tread carefully.<\/p> \"We had to develop new methods to make sure no electrical activity is occurring in an organized way that might reflect any kind of consciousness,\" Vrselja told New Scientist<\/em>.<\/p> For now, they're using their invention to test out treatments for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.<\/p> Similar techniques could also be used to prolong the shelf life of donor organs, which could save lives.<\/p> More on death:<\/strong> Professor of Medicine Says Death Appears to Be Reversible<\/a><\/em><\/p> The post Doctors Intrigued by Treatment That Makes Dead Brains Show Signs of Life<\/a> appeared first on Futurism<\/a>.<\/p> Read the rest here: Scientists were astonished to find that recirculating a cocktail of preserving agents through a severed pig's head caused the animal's brain to show signs of life. Continue reading
Doctors Intrigued by Treatment That Makes Dead Brains Show Signs of Life<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"