The dawn of Frankenswine

Pigs’ brains are brought back to life – 10 hours after they died

IN Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein a dead man’s brain is brought back to life in a body made out of corpses.

and since that groundbreaking novel of 1818 notions of reviving the dead have remained firmly in the world of fiction.

Until now. Scientists say they have managed to get pigs’ brains working again – ten hours after their death.

The brains of the animals were brought partially back to life, with brain cells firing and blood vessels working, in a breakthrough which experts said throws into question ‘what makes an animal – or a human – alive’.

There is no sign that the pig brains showed any sign of consciousness or awareness.

But the results overturn the long-held belief that humans and animals become braindead within seconds or minutes of losing blood flow to the brain.

That raises the question of whether doctors should try to resuscitate patients for longer, or if brain-dead patients might one day be able to recover.

Scientists led by yale School of Medicine created artificial blood in the lab, flushing it through the brain to prevent cell death. Brain cells became active, with circulation starting up in major arteries and tiny blood vessels.

The researchers insist they have not created ‘living brains’ because that would require signs of consciousness.

But an article on the study, led by Professor Nita Farahany at Duke University and published in the journal Nature, says: ‘ Even with all the unknowns, the discovery that mammalian brains can be made to seem “slightly alive”, hours after the animals had been killed, has implications that ethicists, regulators and society more broadly must now think through.’

The authors conclude: ‘Most fundamentally, in our view, it throws into question longstanding assumptions about what makes an animal – or a human – alive.’

Scientists used 32 pigs’ heads from an abattoir. They were so concerned about the results of their study that they had anaesthetics on hand to stop the experiment if the brains showed any signs of awareness. This did not happen, with the brainwaves needed for consciousness failing to appear. But they did find evidence of brain cells firing, and active connections between these cells, when they sliced open the pig brains and zapped them with electrodes. This was despite the pig brains having been starved of oxygen for four hours after death. Professor Dominic Wilkinson, professor of medical ethics at the University of Oxford, said: ‘This reminds us that death is less of an event and more of a process. There is no single time of death of the whole body. ‘It is possible there might one day be some technology to reawaken brains that have passed the point that we currently regard as “braindeath”. But, while this is a step forward, we are a long way away from that.’ The research shows that brains dead for four hours can maintain signs of life, which last for a further six hours.

The uncertainty comes over whether scientists have managed to halt death in the brain or simply ‘ postpone the inevitable’.

But the ingredients used in the pigs’ brains could be used to develop better drugs for stroke patients, whose brain cells die after blood clots starve them of oxygen.

The breakthrough could also allow scientists to study working cells from dead people’s brains, which could lead to great strides in what they know about diseases such as alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

However, it could also raise questions over when doctors should stop trying to save lives and declare someone dead.

Experts raised concerns that the findings may raise false hope for people who plan to have their bodies cryogenically frozen, in the hope they can be brought back to life.