FROM ABATTOIR TO THE LAB
THE experiment began with an abattoir supplying 32 pigs’ heads to researchers. Their brains were removed from their skulls and the blood flushed out to stop clotting.
Four hours after the pigs’ deaths, their brains were hooked up to the scientists’ ‘BrainEx’ system.
This uses pumps and filters to circulate a synthetic blood replacement around the brain. The lab-made ‘blood’ contains oxygen and glucose, which the brain needs to function, and ingredients which protect brain cells.
Circulation was restored to major arteries, small blood vessels and capillaries. A drug that increases blood flow to the brain worked successfully, causing blood vessels to dilate.
The experiment is stopped after six hours, when the brains have been dead for ten hours in total.
Electrodes applied to slices of the brains show activity in response to direct electrical stimulation in cells and signs of life in the synapses the cells use
to ‘talk’ to each other. But this activity is not widespread enough to suggest that the brain is aware or conscious.