Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Yale scientists restore brain function to 32 clinically dead pigs

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Researchers hope the technology will further our understanding of the brain, but lawmakers may not be ready for the ethical challenges.
Kevin Dickinson
17 April, 2019

Researchers at the Yale School of Medicine successfully restored some functions to pig brains that had been dead for hours.
They hope the technology will advance our understanding of the brain, potentially developing new treatments for debilitating diseases and disorders.
The research raises many ethical questions and puts to the test our current understanding of death.

The image of an undead brain coming back to live again is the stuff of science fiction. Not just any science fiction, specifically B-grade sci fi. What instantly springs to mind is the black-and-white horrors of films like Fiend Without a Face. Bad acting. Plastic monstrosities. Visible strings. And a spinal cord that, for some reason, is also a tentacle?

But like any good science fiction, it's only a matter of time before some manner of it seeps into our reality. This week's Nature published the findings of researchers who managed to restore function to pigs' brains that were clinically dead. At least, what we once thought of as dead.
What's dead may never die, it seems

The researchers did not hail from House Greyjoy — "What is dead may never die" — but came largely from the Yale School of Medicine. They connected 32 pig brains to a system called BrainEx. BrainEx is an artificial perfusion system — that is, a system that takes over the functions normally regulated by the organ. The pigs had been killed four hours earlier at a U.S. Department of Agriculture slaughterhouse; their brains completely removed from the skulls.

BrainEx pumped an experiment solution into the brain that essentially mimic blood flow. It brought oxygen and nutrients to the tissues, giving brain cells the resources to begin many normal functions. The cells began consuming and metabolizing sugars. The brains' immune systems kicked in. Neuron samples could carry an electrical signal. Some brain cells even responded to drugs.

The researchers have managed to keep some brains alive for up to 36 hours, and currently do not know if BrainEx can have sustained the brains longer. "It is conceivable we are just preventing the inevitable, and the brain won't be able to recover," said Nenad Sestan, Yale neuroscientist and the lead researcher.

As a control, other brains received either a fake solution or no solution at all. None revived brain activity and deteriorated as normal.

The researchers hope the technology can enhance our ability to study the brain and its cellular functions. One of the main avenues of such studies would be brain disorders and diseases. This could point the way to developing new of treatments for the likes of brain injuries, Alzheimer's, Huntington's, and neurodegenerative conditions.

"This is an extraordinary and very promising breakthrough for neuroscience. It immediately offers a much better model for studying the human brain, which is extraordinarily important, given the vast amount of human suffering from diseases of the mind [and] brain," Nita Farahany, the bioethicists at the Duke University School of Law who wrote the study's commentary, told National Geographic.
An ethical gray matter

Before anyone gets an Island of Dr. Moreau vibe, it's worth noting that the brains did not approach neural activity anywhere near consciousness.

The BrainEx solution contained chemicals that prevented neurons from firing. To be extra cautious, the researchers also monitored the brains for any such activity and were prepared to administer an anesthetic should they have seen signs of consciousness.

Even so, the research signals a massive debate to come regarding medical ethics and our definition of death.

Most countries define death, clinically speaking, as the irreversible loss of brain or circulatory function. This definition was already at odds with some folk- and value-centric understandings, but where do we go if it becomes possible to reverse clinical death with artificial perfusion?

"This is wild," Jonathan Moreno, a bioethicist at the University of Pennsylvania, told the New York Times. "If ever there was an issue that merited big public deliberation on the ethics of science and medicine, this is one."

One possible consequence involves organ donations. Some European countries require emergency responders to use a process that preserves organs when they cannot resuscitate a person. They continue to pump blood throughout the body, but use a "thoracic aortic occlusion balloon" to prevent that blood from reaching the brain.

The system is already controversial because it raises concerns about what caused the patient's death. But what happens when brain death becomes readily reversible? Stuart Younger, a bioethicist at Case Western Reserve University, told Nature that if BrainEx were to become widely available, it could shrink the pool of eligible donors.

"There's a potential conflict here between the interests of potential donors — who might not even be donors — and people who are waiting for organs," he said.

It will be a while before such experiments go anywhere near human subjects. A more immediate ethical question relates to how such experiments harm animal subjects.

Ethical review boards evaluate research protocols and can reject any that causes undue pain, suffering, or distress. Since dead animals feel no pain, suffer no trauma, they are typically approved as subjects. But how do such boards make a judgement regarding the suffering of a "cellularly active" brain? The distress of a partially alive brain?

The dilemma is unprecedented.
Setting new boundaries

Another science fiction story that comes to mind when discussing this story is, of course, Frankenstein. As Farahany told National Geographic: "It is definitely has [sic] a good science-fiction element to it, and it is restoring cellular function where we previously thought impossible. But to have Frankenstein, you need some degree of consciousness, some 'there' there. [The researchers] did not recover any form of consciousness in this study, and it is still unclear if we ever could. But we are one step closer to that possibility."

She's right. The researchers undertook their research for the betterment of humanity, and we may one day reap some unimaginable medical benefits from it. The ethical questions, however, remain as unsettling as the stories they remind us of.

Try it on a certain few democrat leaders,that will be the true test.

Not worth the effort 😜

Excellent idea.

Oh great. Feral pigs not bad enough, now we're gonna get zombie pigs?!

First one that bites somebody will be the start of the zombie apocalypse!

Oh, Lord, they are making democrats....

Pigs are very intelligent.

I don't believe Democrats rate up with pigs, and they are more likely on par with ameba.

So, AOC could have a chance of brain waves?

Frankenpigs.......

Fugged up *that* Bar-B-Q.

Nah. Democrats are way dumber than any dead pig.

Ha. Beat me to it but i would suggest diddler or Jell0 for the true test.

I thought this was a thread about cops. 😂

I wonder if they can fix these

How do you restore something that never existed in the first place?

Are we talking about disembodied brains? That's pretty sick, if true. Pretty sick, regardless.

I think some of us might be talking about disembrained bodies.

Reminds me of research done by a French doctor during the French "Reign of Terror" when thousand of people every day were being guillotined. Right after the head was removed, he would put it up on a table facing himself, then shout the person's name at the head. He reported that in a high percentage of cases, the eyes would quickly shift to look him in the eye in response to their names being shouted, then fade away again within a few seconds.

I remember when a liberal reacted to me that way once when I shouted "hey, dumbass!"

There could be something to it.

Rosie?

How many are running for the Dem nomination, again?

Fuqging Scientists! Now there's going to be 32 more democrat voters for 2020!

RBG dead yet?

#Soon.

Maybe Paddler could be their guinny pig.

Šhit...bet pelosi, clinton, and obummer are sitting on the edge of their seats.

Supposedly a guy the Vatican accorded Sainthood to, after being beheaded, picked up his head and walked three steps.

An Apologist for the Church said, “ It is only the first step that is incredible.”

How did he find his head? Did he hold his head in front of him so he could see where he was going?
I'm a Christian but let's just say I'm skeptical.

Pah, just means a ped got his knob cut off by an irate parent...ignore it.

Saint Denis. Here he is, on the side of Notre Dame Cathedral itself.

stxhunter,

I wonder if those scientists can restore brain function to the terminally braindead DIMocRATS that cannot figure out that the 2020 election is already LOST for their party of FOOLS, BIGOTS & EMPTY-HEADS??

yours, tex

that would require having a brain to start with.

Oh, the irony . . .

was one of the Joy Behar?

stxhunter,


Presumably that since the 32 pigs were dead, they might not have had a higher IQ at that time, as the average LIB possesses at their best.

yours, tex