How scientists are reviving cells in the organs of dead pigs
Researchers who have already revived certain brain cells in dead pigs have successfully repeated the process in more organs.
The pigs had been dead in the lab for an hour - no blood circulating in their bodies, their hearts were immobile, their brain waves were flat. Then a group of Yale scientists pumped a custom-made solution into the dead pigs' bodies with a device similar to a heart-lung machine.
What happened happened next adds questions to what science considers to be the wall between life and death. Although the pigs were by no means believed to be conscious, their apparently dead cells resurrected. Their hearts started beating as the solution, which the scientists called OrganEx, circulated through their veins and arteries. Their organ cells, including heart, liver, kidney, and brain, were functioning again, and the animals never stiffened up like a typical dead pig.
The group reported their findings Wednesday in Nature.
Researchers say their goals are to one day increase the supply of human organs for transplantation by allowing doctors to obtain viable organs long after death. And, they say, they hope their technology could also be used to prevent serious damage to the heart after a devastating heart attack or to the brain after a major stroke.
The group, led by Dr Nenad Sestan, Professor of Neuroscience, Comparative Medicine, Genetics, and Psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine, was stunned by its ability to revive cells.
"We didn't know what to expect," said Dr. David Andrijevic, also a Yale neuroscientist and one of the paper's authors. "Everything we restored was amazing to us."
Others not associated with the work were also amazed.
"It's amazing, mind-blowing," said Nita Farahany, a Duke law professor who studies the ethical, legal, and social implications of emerging technologies.
And, Dr. Farahany added, the work raises questions about the definition of death.
"We assume that death is a thing, it is a state of being," she said. “Are there reversible forms of death? Or not?"
The work began a few years ago when the group performed a similar experiment with the brains of dead pigs from a slaughterhouse. Four hours later pigs died, the group infused a solution similar to OrganEx which they called BrainEx and saw that brain cells that should have died could be reanimated.
This led them to ask if they could revive a whole body, said Dr. Zvonimir Vrselja, another member of the Yale team.
Researchers who have already revived certain brain cells in dead pigs have successfully repeated the process in more organs.
The pigs had been dead in the lab for an hour - no blood circulating in their bodies, their hearts were immobile, their brain waves were flat. Then a group of Yale scientists pumped a custom-made solution into the dead pigs' bodies with a device similar to a heart-lung machine.
What happened happened next adds questions to what science considers to be the wall between life and death. Although the pigs were by no means believed to be conscious, their apparently dead cells resurrected. Their hearts started beating as the solution, which the scientists called OrganEx, circulated through their veins and arteries. Their organ cells, including heart, liver, kidney, and brain, were functioning again, and the animals never stiffened up like a typical dead pig.
The group reported their findings Wednesday in Nature.
Researchers say their goals are to one day increase the supply of human organs for transplantation by allowing doctors to obtain viable organs long after death. And, they say, they hope their technology could also be used to prevent serious damage to the heart after a devastating heart attack or to the brain after a major stroke.
The group, led by Dr Nenad Sestan, Professor of Neuroscience, Comparative Medicine, Genetics, and Psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine, was stunned by its ability to revive cells.
"We didn't know what to expect," said Dr. David Andrijevic, also a Yale neuroscientist and one of the paper's authors. "Everything we restored was amazing to us."
Others not associated with the work were also amazed.
"It's amazing, mind-blowing," said Nita Farahany, a Duke law professor who studies the ethical, legal, and social implications of emerging technologies.
And, Dr. Farahany added, the work raises questions about the definition of death.
"We assume that death is a thing, it is a state of being," she said. “Are there reversible forms of death? Or not?"
The work began a few years ago when the group performed a similar experiment with the brains of dead pigs from a slaughterhouse. Four hours later pigs died, the group infused a solution similar to OrganEx which they called BrainEx and saw that brain cells that should have died could be reanimated.
This led them to ask if they could revive a whole body, said Dr. Zvonimir Vrselja, another member of the Yale team.
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