Oxygen is the elixir of life. Stop its flowduring a stroke, heart attack, or deathand the bodys tissues respond in a biological storm that eventually leads to their death.
Its not great for organ transplants. Most donated organs struggle to survive beyond death. Deprived of oxygen, they rapidly lose their function. Cells turn into acidic, bloated blobs that leak, injuring their neighbors. The immune system ramps up, pumping out a deadly concoction of hormones and immune chemicals that send the brain and immune system into hyperdrive, damaging most organs in the process. In other words, once death sets in, theres no turning back.
Or is there?
A new study in Nature suggests there might be. Using an external circulation system, a team of scientists partially revived organs in pigs hours after their deaths. The system, dubbed OrganEx, works like an alternative circulatory system. Instead of blood, it pumps a synthetic substitute to trick the body into thinking its still somewhat alive.
To be clear, the scientists didnt make porcine zombies. Although the blood replacement recipe helped to preserve some brain tissue, it didnt reactivate any coordinated electrical activity in neurons. In other words, its extremely unlikely that the pigs regained any consciousness during the procedure. But other bodily organs did get a potential boost for a second life. Cells in the heart, liver, and kidneys repaired themselves based on multiple molecular analyses.
The goal isnt to build a new-age Frankenstein. Rather, its to help with the current organ transplant shortage and health emergencies caused by constricted blood flow. The achievement points to ways to improve transplants and the treatment of strokes and heart attacks, wrote Dr. Robert Porte at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, who was not involved in the study.
Its not the teams first foray into reviving dead organs. Back in 2019, they triggered brain activity in pigs four hours after their passing, sparking a firestorm on how to define death. For most of human history, death was very simplenow, we have to question what is irreversible, said Dr. Christof Koch, president and chief scientist at the Allen Institute of Brain Science at the time.
This is a truly remarkable and incredibly significant study. It demonstrates that after death, cells in mammalian organs (including humans) such as the brain do not die for many hours, said Dr. Sam Parnia at New York University, who was not involved in the study.
The first bits of death arent pretty. When cells are deprived of oxygen, their inner molecular processes go topsy-turvy. The process is dubbed ischemia, which means a lack of blood that normally carries oxygen. Like a valley of crops without water, its a bad sign: ischemia to the heart can trigger a heart attack; to the brain, a stroke.
The solution should be easy. Add more oxygen to the cells, like water to crops, and they should perk right up.
Not quite. With trial and error, scientists realized that pumping oxygen-deprived tissuesay, a brain or heartwith oxygen-rich blood causes more injury. Its like suddenly overwatering a dried-out cactus and rotting its roots.
Were still not quite sure why this happens, but scientists have been cooking up ideas. A first breakthrough from the same team came in 2019, when they developed a technique called BrainEx to help restore some neural function in 32 pig heads after 6 hours of depleted oxygen. Pumping a warmed-up preservative liquid into the brains arteries, the brain cells showed normal metabolic activities and kept their structurewhich would normally collapse in death. Individual neurons also sparked with electrical bursts, but the brains didnt show any signs of sophisticated neural activity or awareness.
Yet the results sparked an idea for study author Dr. Nenad Sestan at Yale University. The brain is an exceptionally delicate organ susceptible to lack of oxygen. If we can somewhat reboot it, why not do the same for organs throughout the body?
If you can regain some function in a dead pig brain, you can do it in other organs, too, he said.
Lets backtrack.
Upon death, the heart stops pumping. This means that all tissues are starved of oxygen and nutrients, and even after reperfusion with blood, they wither away. Their protective membranes break down. Organs lose their structural integrity.
The trick to keeping tissue healthy is a special fluid called cryoprotective perfusate. Think of it as an incredibly nutritious smoothie that goes straight into your blood circulation. Or biological liquid gold. The authors have a recipe: Hemopure, a chemical that mimics proteins in red blood cells to help carry oxygen; chemicals to protect against blood clots; and a wealth of nutrients to protect cells against damage.
But protecting the entire body is a much larger job than just preserving some neural function. In the new study, the authors made a few tweaks to their recipe. A main one was adding components that help keep the immune system in check. Another was a sprinkling of electrolytes to help dying tissues, and changing the type of antibiotics. They dubbed their new technology OrganEx.
To transfuse the artificial blood, the team rigged up an automated system that pumps the perfusate into the pigs bloodstream. They had all died from cardiac arrest an hour earlier and did not have a pulse. The team pitted their OrganEx system against the gold standard of careECMO, or an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machinethat hospitals use as a hail-Mary attempt for people struggling with oxygen, for example, Covid-19.
Six hours later, they checked the results. ECMO wasnt able to properly provide oxygen to all organs. Some of the smaller blood vessels had collapsed. In contrast, animals treated with the OrganEx system had few problems with electrolytes or acidity, which are common issues with decaying cells. Digging deeper, three types of brain cells seemed to preserve better in the prefrontal cortex (a brain region at the front of your head important for reasoning and other executive functions).
Going beyond the brain, the team next tested OrganEx on a whole slew of bodily organs, such as the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, and pancreas. The system seemed to kick circulation back into gear, with oxygen flowing to tissues in the body. Some parts of the organs took up glucose, a type of sugar cell often used for metabolism. The livers of OrganEx-treated pigs also pumped out a normal protein, unlike those under ECMO. The cells genetic programming also came back to life, ramping up genes involved in cellular repair and restoration.
Under the microscope, it was difficult to tell the difference between a healthy organ and one which had been treated with OrganEx technology after death, said study author Dr. Zvonimir Vrselja.
Yes, it does. Although OrganEx helps revitalize pigs organs, its far from a deceased animal being brought back to life. Rather, their organs were better protected from low oxygen levels, which occur during heart attacks or strokes.
One could imagine that the OrganEx system (or components thereof) might be used to treat such people in an emergency, said Porte.
The technology could also help preserve donor organs, but theres a long way to go. To Dr. Brendan Parent, director of transplant ethics and policy research at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, OrganEx may force a rethink for the field. For example, is it possible that someone could have working peripheral organs but never regain consciousness? As medical technology develops, death becomes a process, not a moment.
This situation is known in medical communities as the bridge to nowhere, and has already become more common with increased use of ECMO in ECPR [extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation], wrote Parent.
For now, the study suggests that tissues and organs have a surprising ability to regenerate after being deprived of blood. Overall, further optimization and expansion of our technology will be needed to fully understand its broader effects on ischemic tissues and recovery, the authors said.
Image Credit: David Andrijevic, Zvonimir Vrselja, Taras Lysyy, Shupei Zhang; Sestan Laboratory; Yale School of Medicine. OrganEx restores tissue functions one hour after death; the kidneys regain their structure.
Follow this link:
How Scientists Revived Organs in Pigs an Hour After They Died - Singularity Hub
- Singularity Future Technology Ltd (SGLY) is up 43.55% Tuesday In Premarket Trading - InvestorsObserver - March 18th, 2024 [March 18th, 2024]
- This Week's Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through March 16) - Singularity Hub - March 18th, 2024 [March 18th, 2024]
- Palia reaches over 3m players in six months thanks to "invaluable" Switch partnership - GamesIndustry.biz - March 18th, 2024 [March 18th, 2024]
- Beyond the Singularity: Exploring the Fusion of AI and Art - Hong Kong Standard - March 18th, 2024 [March 18th, 2024]
- Your Comprehensive Guide to Telos Staking Success | by Pizza Singularity Sapphire | Feb, 2024 - Medium - February 20th, 2024 [February 20th, 2024]
- BTS' Kim Taehyung's 'Singularity' Performance Featured in Harvard Professor's Book - BNN Breaking - February 20th, 2024 [February 20th, 2024]
- Title: Understanding the Singularity: Unveiling the Future of Humanity - Medium - December 12th, 2023 [December 12th, 2023]
- What happens at the center of a black hole? - Astronomy Magazine - December 12th, 2023 [December 12th, 2023]
- IBM Is Planning to Build Its First Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computer by 2029 - Singularity Hub - December 12th, 2023 [December 12th, 2023]
- 22 Laws of Singularity And How You Can Apply Them To Live A Better Life - Medium - December 12th, 2023 [December 12th, 2023]
- Singularity: Here's When Humanity Will Reach It, New Data Shows - March 31st, 2023 [March 31st, 2023]
- sentinelOne expands singularity marketplace with new SOAR, insider threat, training, and prioritization integrations - ZAWYA - March 31st, 2023 [March 31st, 2023]
- Reaching the Singularity May be Humanitys Greatest and Last ... - March 4th, 2023 [March 4th, 2023]
- Singularity: Explain It to Me Like I'm 5-Years-Old - Futurism - March 4th, 2023 [March 4th, 2023]
- SINGULARITY FUTURE TECHNOLOGY LTD. : Notice of Delisting or Failure to Satisfy a Continued Listing Rule or Standard; Transfer of Listing, Change in... - March 4th, 2023 [March 4th, 2023]
- Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak on Artificial Intelligence: Not worried about The Singularity, well still be in control - MacDailyNews - February 12th, 2023 [February 12th, 2023]
- Cauchy principal value - Wikipedia - January 4th, 2023 [January 4th, 2023]
- Singularity Future Technology Ltd. (SGLY) Stockholder Notice: Robbins LLP Reminds Investors of the Class Action Against Singularity Future Technology... - December 14th, 2022 [December 14th, 2022]
- ROSEN, A LEADING LAW FIRM, Encourages Singularity Future Technology Ltd. f/k/a Sino-Global Shipping America Ltd. Investors to Secure Counsel Before... - December 12th, 2022 [December 12th, 2022]
- Singularity (mathematics) - Wikipedia - November 23rd, 2022 [November 23rd, 2022]
- GitHub: Where the world builds software GitHub - November 21st, 2022 [November 21st, 2022]
- Review: The Singularities, by John Banville - The New York Times - October 25th, 2022 [October 25th, 2022]
- We need to manage AI better as we are approaching the Creative Singularity - RedShark News - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- This Week's Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through October 15) - Singularity Hub - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- Ferguson: A second helping of QB play from Thanksgiving weekend - CFL.ca - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- Kanimozhi slams Union govt over conducting CGL exams in only Hindi and English - The News Minute - October 15th, 2022 [October 15th, 2022]
- New Bayonetta 3 Trailer Reveals An In-Universe Singularity, And Lots Of Witches - Gameranx - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Singularity Future Technology Announces Receipt of Nasdaq Notice of Delisting and Intention to Request Hearing - Yahoo Finance - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Six Recent Discoveries That Have Changed How We Think About Human Origins - Singularity Hub - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- This AI Uses a Scan of Your Retina to Predict Your Risk of Heart Disease - Singularity Hub - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- The Moon May Have Formed Just Hours After Earth Collided With a Protoplanet - Singularity Hub - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- UK HealthCare hosting 2 nationally esteemed guests for 60th anniversary symposium - UKNow - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Why Transcend Fund believes the opportunity for game investments is only getting bigger - VentureBeat - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Austin Powers References in This Fool, Ramy, Bros - Vulture - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Bayonetta 3 Everything You Need to Know About this Bewitching Beat em Up - Wccftech - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- Longtermism: The Future Is VastWhat Does This Mean for Our Own Life? - Singularity Hub - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- Ohio creates elections integrity office while voter fraud is already 'exceedingly rare' - ideastream - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- Elon Musk Warns of World War III - TheStreet - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- Durga reminds us of our collective obligations - Daily Pioneer - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- Glitch in the algorithm - The Bucknellian - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- As the Robot Fry Cook Takes Over the Kitchen - Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- The Singularity Image Format (SIF) Selected as a Finalist in the HPCwire Readers' Choice Awards - PR Web - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- The Singularity Image Format (SIF) Selected as a Finalist in the HPCwire Readers' Choice Awards - Benzinga - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- The Singularity of the Dual Mandate - Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- What Is the Quirk Singularity Doomsday Theory in My Hero Academia? Explained - Twinfinite - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Introduction to week 4 of Tekedia Mini-MBA: Exponential Technologies and Singularity - Tekedia - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- A $500 Million International Project Will Create the Most Detailed Map of the Brain Ever - Singularity Hub - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- There Are Cheaper, More Sustainable Ways Than Desalination to Meet Our Water Needs - Singularity Hub - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- #3DStartup: Unlimited Tomorrow and its 3D Printed Bionic Prosthetic Arm - 3Dnatives - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- First As Parody, Then As Free Speech: The Onion Goes To The Supreme Court. It's About As Awesome As You'd Suspect. - Above the Law - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- 10 Hot Cyber Threat Intelligence Tools And Services In 2022 - CRN - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Nintendo comes out strong with its offering of upcoming titles - The UML Connector - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- The metaverses evolutionary roots could aid its success | Mint - Mint - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- The Tech That Will Push VR to the Limits of the Human Eye - Singularity Hub - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- Super-Earths Are Bigger and More Habitable Than Earth, and Astronomers Are Discovering More of the Billions They Think Are Out There - Singularity Hub - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- Scientists Have Long Dreamed of a Memory Prosthesis. The First Human Trials Look Promising - Singularity Hub - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- NASA's DART Spacecraft Will Smack an Asteroid at 14,000 MPH Todayand You Can Watch - Singularity Hub - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- Why You Should Read This: 'The Gold Coast' - Alta Magazine - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- The Multitude of Stromae - Mail and Guardian - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine is Getting a Location-based VR Experience Next Year - Road to VR - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- What the pandemic taught us about teaching (On the Other Hand) - Montclair Local - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- Where to get the Boom Sniper in Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 4 - The Nerd Stash - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- Machine learning has predicted the winners of the Worlds - CyclingTips - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- Vaonis Vespera Review: Easy To Use But with Underwhelming Results - PetaPixel - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- The biggest problem with gravity and quantum physics - Big Think - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- V gets inked on his butt cheek? BTS star spills the details about his friendship tattoo - Zoom TV - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- Robots & Humans: Are we heading towards Singularity? - INDIAai - September 20th, 2022 [September 20th, 2022]
- This Week's Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through September 17) - Singularity Hub - September 20th, 2022 [September 20th, 2022]
- A Swedish Company Wants to Transform Offshore Wind With Vertical-Axis Turbines - Singularity Hub - September 20th, 2022 [September 20th, 2022]
- Decarbonizing the Energy Sector by 2050 Could Save the World $12 Trillion - Singularity Hub - September 20th, 2022 [September 20th, 2022]
- This Sleek Solar Car Goes 600 Miles on a Charge and Is Gearing Up for Production - Singularity Hub - September 20th, 2022 [September 20th, 2022]
- Meta Built an AI That Can Guess the Words You're Hearing by Decoding Your Brainwaves - Singularity Hub - September 20th, 2022 [September 20th, 2022]
- Gory Throwback FPS 'Prodeus' Exits Early Access This Thursday, Launching for PC and Consoles [Trailer] - Bloody Disgusting - September 20th, 2022 [September 20th, 2022]
- Meet the New Vespera Telescope From Vaonis - Universe Today - September 20th, 2022 [September 20th, 2022]
- Of God and Machines - The Atlantic - September 20th, 2022 [September 20th, 2022]
- Humans Destroyed Forests for Thousands of Years. We Can Become the First Generation to Expand Them - Singularity Hub - September 20th, 2022 [September 20th, 2022]
- Intel Core i9-13900K beats the 12900K by +10% in CPU-bound games - KitGuru - September 20th, 2022 [September 20th, 2022]
- INVESTIGATION ALERT: The Schall Law Firm Encourages Investors in Singularity Future Technology Ltd. with Losses of $100000 to Contact the Firm -... - August 15th, 2022 [August 15th, 2022]
- How To Open Singularity Rock in Tower of Fantasy - Attack of the Fanboy - August 15th, 2022 [August 15th, 2022]
- Intel i9-13900K Tested in Ashes Of The Singularity, Offers Neglible Increments in Performance - Appuals - August 15th, 2022 [August 15th, 2022]