Neuroscientists Partially Revive Pig Brains After Death
Published in Brain/Neurology.
A commonly held view is that when brain cells die, it is an irreversible, final state. Within less than 40 seconds of oxygen deprivation, the human brain’s interneuronal activity ceases and becomes electrically inactive. The brain’s ion gradients begin to degrade within minutes, as depolarization proliferates as a surge of electrochemical energy is released as heat—a brain tsunami. Neuroscience researchers from the Yale School of Medicine announced the successful revival of circulation and cellular activity in pig brains for hours after death and published their study on April 17 in Nature.