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Scientists say the brains of animals and humans are at risk of serious damage without blood circulation or oxygen. But, the researchers say that they were able to restore Activity in the brain of pigs killed four hours earlier.
Nenad Sestan, of the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, was one of the researchers. He said that, according to medical definitions, the brain was not a "living brain". He added that the brain could not think or feel anything.
However, researchers have found that brain cells that have lost their blood and oxygen supply could survive longer than scientists thought.
They said that research could lead to new medical treatments for the stroke and other conditions. It also provides a new way to study the brain and how drugs work.
The research was funded primarily by the National Institutes of Health and published this week in the journal Nature.
The 32 brains of the study came from pigs killed for food. Scientists put the brain in an apparatus of their laboratory. Four hours after the animals died, they started to inject a specially designed blood substitute through the organs.
After six hours, scientists discovered that individual brain cells in an area of the brain continued to retain important details of their structure. And when they sent electrical signals to the brain, the cells reacted so as to show viability.
Scientists have studied the artificial the blood before and after it entered the treated brains. They found the brain cells were absorbent sugar in the blood and oxygen and carbon dioxide production: a sign that they were working. They also found that the bloodstream in the treated brains reacted to a drug that makes them wider.
But brains do not show much activity that would be a sign of consciousness. Scientists said that the restoration of consciousness was not the purpose of the study. And they do not know if it is possible.
Scientists have stated that they have not intended to try their methods on the human brain yet. However, they are now looking to keep the study for more than six hours of treatment.
Christof Koch is president of the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle, Washington. He did not participate in the study, but he said he was surprised at the results, especially since they came from an animal of this size.
He added that the study could increase our knowledge "to bring people back to the land of the living" after a drug overdose. He suggested that it could also help treatments when the brain has not received enough oxygen for an hour or two.
Koch said the study results also raised questions about the widely used definition of death – the irreversible loss of brain activity.
I am Jonathan Evans.
Hai Do adapted this story for VOA Learning English on the basis of an AP report. Mario Ritter was the publisher.
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Words in this story
restore -V. return something to its previous state
viability -NOT. able to live or to become a living being
artificial -ADJ. not natural, made by people
absorb -V. take something like a liquid
consciousness -NOT. the state of being awake and aware
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