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The pigs had been lying dead in the lab for an hour. Their bodies were not circulating blood, their hearts were motionless, their brain waves were flat. Then a group of Yale scientists pumped a specially made solution into the bodies of dead pigs with a device similar to a heart-lung machine.
What happened next makes us question what science sees as the wall between life and death.
DEAD CELLS ARE REVISED!
Although the pigs were by no means considered conscious, their dead cells resurrected. of scientists OrganEx The solution he named began to circulate in the veins and arteries of the pigs, making their hearts beating.
Cells in their organs, including the heart, liver, kidneys, and brain, were functioning again, and the animals never solidified like a typical dead pig.
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Researchers, who had previously resuscitated some brain cells in dead pigs, were able to repeat the process in more organs.
Other pigs, dead for an hour, were treated with ECMO, a machine that pumps blood through their bodies. They hardened, their organs swelled and damaged, their blood vessels collapsed, and they had purple spots on their backs where blood had pooled.
The research group published their study results Wednesday in Nature.
GOAL: LEADING THE ORGAN TRANSPLANTATION
The researchers say their goal is to one day increase the supply of human organs for transplantation, by allowing doctors to obtain living organs long after death.
And they say they hope their technology could be used to prevent serious damage to hearts after a devastating heart attack or brains after a major stroke.
However, Stephen Latham, a bioethicist at Yale University who works closely with the group, said the findings are just a first step. of technology “far from human use yet” stressed that.
Professor of neuroscience, comparative medicine, genetics, and psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine. The group, led by Nenad Sestan, was stunned by the solution’s ability to regenerate cells.
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A neuroscientist at Yale and one of the paper’s authors, Dr. “We didn’t know what to expect,” said David Andrijevic. “Everything we were able to achieve was incredible for us.”
The study began a few years ago when the group conducted a similar experiment with the brains of dead pigs from a slaughterhouse. Four hours after the pigs died, the group infused a solution similar to OrganEx, which they called BrainEx, and found that brain cells that were supposed to die could be regenerated.
Another member of the Yale team, Dr. Zvonimir Vrselja said this caused them to ask the question of whether they could revive a whole body.
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ORGANEX BRINGS CELLS TO LIFE
The OrganEx solution contained nutrients, anti-inflammatory drugs, anti-cell death drugs, nerve blockers – substances that reduce the activity of neurons and prevent the pigs from regaining consciousness – and an artificial hemoglobin mixed with each animal’s own blood.
Investigators took precautions to avoid suffering when treating dead pigs. Pigs were anesthetized before they were killed by cardiac arrest and deep anesthesia was maintained throughout the experiment.
Also, the nerve blockers in the OrganEx solution stopped the nerves from firing to make sure the brain was not active.
The researchers also cooled the animals to slow down chemical reactions. Individual brain cells were alive, but there were no signs of organized global nerve activity in the brain.
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There was a surprising finding: Pigs treated with OrganEx shook their heads when researchers injected an iodine contrast solution for imaging.
Dr. Latham emphasized that although the cause of the movement is not known, there are no signs of involvement in the brain.
Yale has applied for a patent for the technology. Dr. Sestan said the next step would be to see if the organs are working properly and can be transplanted successfully. Sometime after that, the researchers hope to test whether the method can repair damaged hearts or brains.
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MOST OF THE PATIENTS WITHOUT LIFE SUPPORT CANNOT BE ORGAN DONORS
Between 50 and 60 percent of patients who die after life support is cut off and whose families want to donate their organs cannot be donors.
If OrganEx could resuscitate these organs, Dr. Porte, the impact would be huge. Because there would be a huge increase in the number of organs available for transplantation.
Would the pigs still have died if the group had not used nerve blockers in their solution and their brains had been able to function again? purpose, bodies organ transplant This would create ethical problems if the pigs had regained some degree of consciousness during the process.
However, if the patient has suffered a severe stroke or is the victim of suffocation, the goal may be to restore brain function.
“If we’re going to get this technology to a point where it can help people, we’ll have to see what happens in the brain without nerve blockers,” said Parent.
ETHICAL ISSUES AND DISCUSSIONS
According to him, the method would eventually need to be tested on people who could benefit, such as victims of stroke or drowning. But this will require a lot of deliberation by ethicists, neurologists and neuroscientists.
Another issue is the effects of OrganEx on the definition of death.
If OrganEx continues to show that the time it takes for cells to recover after blood and oxygen deprivation is much longer than previously thought, then there must be a change in the time a person is determined to be dead.
“Oddly enough, this process is not unlike what we went through in the development of the ventilator,” said Parent.
“There are so many people in the world, breathing and living, that if they were in a different era they would be called dead”
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