Pig Brains Revived Hours After Death, Changing Brain Dead Theories

A report released by Spain’s environment ministry recently revealed the population of pigs has outnumbered humans in the country, with 50 million pigs to 46.5 million humans. In this image, four-month-old pigs in a finishing barn are seen at Wessling Farms near Grand Junction, Iowa, July 5, 2018. REUTERS/Scott Morgan

Scientists succeeded in restoring the blood circulation and metabolic functions of pig brains hours after its death. This move has boosted new opportunities for brain disease studies and treatments.

The brains of humans and other mammals are very fragile and easy to degrade, especially with a lack of oxygen like in the cases of heart attacks and drowning. Brain death refers to the complete loss of brain function, including the brainstem. It is irreversible and is legally and medically recognized as death – until now.

New Yale research challenges long-held assumptions about the timing and irreversible nature of the cessation of some brain functions after death. https://t.co/5a6A0nJtik
— Yale University (@Yale) April 17, 2019

Neuroscientists from the Yale School of Medicine reported the restoration of some structures and cellular functions of pig brains hours after the animals has been killed. The researchers used an artificial perfusion system called BrainEx.

The brain of a postmortem pig obtained from a meatpacking plant was isolated and circulated with a specially designed chemical solution. Circulation and some cellular activity were restored in the brain four hours after its death. #neuroscience

https://t.co/BqcGga7KjC
— Neuroscience News (@NeuroscienceNew) April 17, 2019

BrainEx consists of a computer-based program that controls the nourishing solution to the brain – in this case, the dead brain. BrainEx imitates the natural blood circulation. Yale University has filed a patent for the system on behalf of its creators, but all of BrainEx's parts and procedures will be freely available for nonprofit and academic researchers.

With the use of BrainEx, scientists were able to restore and maintain blood circulation and cellular activities of 32 intact pig brains outside the body under the mimicked normal condition four hours after death.

Scientists from @Yale have partially revived pig brains hours after death. The findings could fuel debate about the barrier between life and death, and provide a new way of researching diseases like Alzheimer's. #AnimalResearch #Pigs https://t.co/JiZKKn03xC
— Understanding Animal Research (@animalresearch) April 18, 2019

“These findings demonstrate that under appropriate conditions the isolated, intact large mammalian brain possesses an underappreciated capacity for restoration of microcirculation and molecular and cellular activity after a prolonged post-mortem interval,” Dr. Zvonimir Vrselja, Dr. Stefano G. Daniele and other co-researchers wrote on their paper. Dr. Vselja and the other researchers are affiliated with the department of Neuroscience in Yale School of Medicine in New Haven.

The study did not detect any kind of brain activity like signaling between brain regions, but the research challenges the scientific assumption that the damage in mammalian brains is irreversible minutes after blood circulation stops. It also raises awareness for the possibility that scientists could recover or rescue a person’s brain after heart and lung malfunction.

The paper was published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, April 17.