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The death of brain cells may not be as sudden or irreversible as previously thought.
Four hours after the death of a pig, Yale scientists restored the circulation and restored cellular activity in the brain of the dead animal.
The researchers reported that brain cells remained viable six hours later, compared to other nonpreserved brains using the newly developed method.
It may look like Frankenstein, but scientists insist:
Although its cells have been kept alive, the brain itself has never displayed the kind of organized electrical activity associated with consciousness, said chief researcher Dr. Nenad Sestan. He is a professor of neuroscience at the Yale School of Medicine.
"It's not a living brain, but a cell-active brain," said Sestan.
So, what is it for?
The discovery challenges long-standing assumptions that brain cells die quickly and irreversibly once their blood supply has been cut off, the researchers said.
"By doing this, we can eventually offer better treatments for stroke and other disorders that cause cell death in the brain, "said Sestan.
The same process that preserved the pig brain could also be used to preserve other organ harvested for donation purposes, added co-investigator Stephen Latham, director of the Yale Interdisciplinary Bioethics Center.
"It's safe to assume that if it works for the preservation of brain cells, it would be as well after a few manipulations with less sensitive organs, in order to preserve them and preserve their function," said Latham.
What was needed to revive brain cells?
This breakthrough necessitated the development of three unique processes, the researchers said:
- A specially designed, blood-like chemical solution custom-designed to protect endangered brain cells.
- A device that would circulate the chemical solution safely in the brain.
- Surgical procedures to isolate the brain and connect essential arteries and veins to the circulation device.
Yale researchers named their creation BrainEx and, for review, they recovered freshly cut pork heads from a food processing plant near New Haven, Connecticut, said Latham.
"The heads with the brains in them were extracted from the plant after the pigs had already been slaughtered for food," said Latham. "No animals have been sacrificed for research."
The goal was not to restore consciousness in the brain, said Latham. The blood substitute contained chemicals that could block neuronal activity and sedatives were available to terminate the procedure if the researchers detected an organized electrical activity.
The researchers continued this study after previous research indicated that scientists may be extremely pessimistic about the ability of brain cells to survive after the death of an animal, said Sestan.
Cut off from oxygen and blood, the electrical activity and the signs of brain consciousness disappear in just a few seconds and the energy reserves deplete in minutes, the researchers said. researchers in information notes. Until now, it was thought to be part of a rapid cascade of brain death that permanently destroys cell function.
Brain death is not as simple as thinking
But according to recent research, this waterfall might not be as devastating as expected. For example, studies have shown that living cells can be harvested from a brain after death and cultured in a dish, Sestan said.
"This indicates that post-mortem brain cells have the capacity to be reactivated," he explained. "If we can do that in a petri dish, can we do it with an intact brain?"
This new study has shown that "the process of cell death is a gradual process, and that some of these processes can be deferred, preserved or even reversed," said Sestan.
The integrity of neuronal cells was preserved in the pig brain and the researchers observed spontaneous metabolic activity and synaptic activity.
Further research could shed light on how to save the brains of stroke patients, but it is unlikely that this pathway can help life-sustaining brain death patients through life-saving assistance. said Sestan. That's the difference between saving brain cells and starting the complex electrical function of the brain quickly.
"We have not found any evidence that these brains have an activity associated with perception or consciousness.The activity was completely flat.These brains are really not clinically alive brains," Sestan said. .
"It's very hard to see at the moment that we can do anything for that to apply to anyone in this state," he concluded.
A breakthrough could one day help people with a stroke or brain disease
This study is a breakthrough that challenges many pre-existing assumptions in neuroscience, said bioethicist Nita Farahany, professor and founding director of Duke Science & Society at Duke University.
"One can not say enough about what constitutes a major breakthrough to ultimately be able to alleviate the tremendous human suffering resulting from a brain disease," Farahany said.
The study opens the door to "a much better model for studying the human brain, to finally have an intact brain, functional cell, "said Farahany, who co-authored an editorial accompanying the study.
However, this also leaves the researchers "with a gaping gray area, with almost no indication of how to proceed ethically," she added.
"We thought that there were dead and alive, and once something was dead, you could not bring back the brain," Farahany said.
Ethics committees need to move quickly and help create guidelines to conduct such research in a responsible manner, she said.
"The researchers here have done everything possible to determine the ethical path to follow," Farahany added, highlighting the use of neuron blockers and sedatives.
The results were published April 18 in the journal Nature.
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