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| Frankenswine: Experts said the study threw into question at what point an animal, or even humans, are dead (AFP Photo/Damien MEYER) |
Paris (AFP) - Scientists have managed to restore cell function in the brains of pigs hours after they died, in a breakthrough Wednesday that experts said threw into question the very notion of what makes animals -- or even humans -- alive.
Authors of
the US-based study said their research could one day be used to help treat
victims of heart attacks and strokes and unravel the mysteries of brain trauma.
In human
and large mammal brains, cells crucial for neural function begin to degrade as
soon as blood supply is cut -- a process long considered to be irreversible.
But the
findings of the trial, published in the journal Nature, show that the brains of
pigs can have their blood flow and cell function restored even hours after
death.
The team
from the NIH BRAIN initiative, a federally funded US research programme, used
the brains of 32 pigs that had been slaughtered for food and discarded, without
blood or glucose flow, for four hours each.
Then, using
a tissue support system that pumps a liquid designed to mimic blood through
organs, they rehydrated the brains for a further six hours.
Some brains
received the patented life-support solution and others were given a control
substance.
Flickers
of life
The results
were astonishing: the brains that received the artificial blood had basic cell
function restored. Their blood vessel structure was revived, and the team even
observed some localised processes -- including in synapses and immune responses
-- flickering back to life.
Those that
received the control solution turned within hours to what researchers described
as "something a bit like yoghurt".
"I was
tremendously surprised," Nenad Sestan, a researcher at Yale University and
lead study author told AFP.
"We
were surprised how well the structure was preserved. We found that cell death
is reduced, which is very exciting and promising.
"The main conceptual finding is this: cell death in the brain occurs across a longer time period than we previously thought," Sestan added.
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The
findings suggest that brain cells and arteries remain functional for hours
after death (AFP Photo/Fred TANNEAU)
|
"The main conceptual finding is this: cell death in the brain occurs across a longer time period than we previously thought," Sestan added.
The team
stressed that they saw no "higher level functional activity" such as
electric signalling associated with consciousness in the revived brains.
"That
is a clinical sign that the brain is alive, and we never found it," said
Sestan. "This is not a living brain, it is a cellularly active
brain."
Had any
such activity been detected, the team said they would have had to deliver
anaesthetic to the brains to null any pain -- despite them having been dead for
hours.
"If
some activity shows up that indicated consciousness, we would have to stop the
experiment," said Stephen Latham, from Yale's Centre of Bioethics.
"This
would be unique: inducing consciousness in an organ that's not connected to any
living being."
'Not
alive, not dead'
The
findings suggest that scientists may have underappreciated the brain's capacity
for self-restoration after a patient is declared brain dead.
But for
experts invited to comment on the study, it raised deeper philosophical and
ethical questions.
Writing in
a linked editorial, Nita Farahany, a professor of law and philosophy at Duke
University, said that the study "throws into question long-standing
assumptions over what makes an animal -- or a human -- alive."
She said
researchers had inadvertently created an ethical grey area where the pigs used
were "not alive, but not completely dead."
Dominic
Wilkinson, professor of medical ethics at the University of Oxford, said that
the study could have vital implications for future brain research.
"This
research reminds us that 'death' is less an event, and more of a process that
occurs over time," he said.
"Cells
within the human organism may be alive for some period of time after the human
person has died."
Zvonimir
Vrselja, also at Yale School of Medicine's Department of Neuroscience, said the
team planned to use their support system on dead brains for longer periods of
time in order to see how the cells react.
"We
could potentially get some insight into how these brains could be saved,"
he told AFP.
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“.. Medicine - Where It's Going
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