Scientists Keep Brains Alive After Death In New Study That Definitely Won’t Start A Zombie Apocalypse
In the movie 28 Days Later, a team of animal rights activists unknowingly unleash a zombie-like apocalypse after freeing a chimpanzee that had been infected with a rage virus, teaching everybody the valuable lesson that humankind should not mess with nature, especially while inside a laboratory. In a case of “We hope this doesn’t come back and literally bite us,” a team of scientists in China has discovered a breakthrough method to keep brains alive after death, and it all starts with the liver of all places. In the study, the team took a closer look at the function of the liver and how it impacts the brain following a cardiac arrest.
In a recent study published in the medical journal, EMBO Molecular Medicine, a team of researchers based out of Sun Yat-Sen University looked at possible methods of keeping a person’s brain alive after death, especially in the event of a cardiac event. In today’s modern world, medical advances have allowed first responders the ability to revive people whose hearts have stopped. However, despite those medical advances, there is still a very short window in which a person can be revived without having severe damage to their vital organs, such as their brain.
The Liver Connection
When a person goes into cardiac arrest, the brain is then deprived of oxygen and blood flow, which causes brain activity to stop within just a matter of seconds, opening the possibility of catastrophic damage to occur, including swelling of the brain as well as the death of brain cells.
In an attempt to extend the short window to avoid brain damage for victims of cardiac arrest, the team of researchers opted to test the viability of keeping the livers of Tibetan minipigs functionally alive after death, then observing the effect that the process could have on the minipigs’ brains following resuscitation.
In the past, research has pointed to the fact that the liver is a critical component to how well the rest of the body does when suffering a cardiac arrest. According to research, patients who had a prior history of liver disease or other various liver complications were left with a higher risk of death in the event of cardiac arrest, making it more difficult to keep their brains alive after death, making resuscitation less effective.
The team of researchers at Sun Yat-Sen University decided to take a closer look at the importance of the liver and test if the organ was capable of aiding the brain following cardiac arrest.
The Experiment
In their study, the team of researchers prevented blood flow to minipigs’ brains, all while hooking their livers up to a life support system that promoted circulation. Following various time trials, the researchers then attempted to keep the pigs’ brains alive after death using the same method. To study their results, the researchers then euthanized the pigs an compared them to a control group of pigs whose blood flow was not impacted.
According to the researchers, the pigs who had their livers attached to the life support system fared much better than the pigs whose livers remained untouched following death, showing fewer signs of damage than the control group of pigs.
In the study, the researchers were then able to restore brain activity in the liver-focused pigs up to 50 minutes after blood flow to the brain was stopped. Meaning that they were able to keep their brains alive after death longer than the control group of pigs whose livers remained untouched.
Could Save Lives
“Our study highlights the crucial role of the liver in the pathogenesis of post-[cardiac arrest] brain injury,” the researchers wrote in their study. “The insights gained from the current and future studies have the potential to enhance survival and improve outcomes for patients experiencing [cardiac arrest].”
Source: EMBO Molecular Medicine
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