In a study that raises profound questions about the line between life and death, researchers have restored some cellular activity to brains removed from slaughtered pigs.
The brains did not regain anything resembling consciousness: There were no signs indicating coordinated electrical signaling, necessary for higher functions like awareness and intelligence.
But in an experimental treatment, blood vessels in the pigs’ brains began functioning, flowing with a blood substitute, and certain brain cells
regained metabolic activity, even responding to drugs. When the
researchers tested slices of treated brain tissue, they discovered
electrical activity in some neurons.
The
work is very preliminary and has no immediate implications for
treatment of brain injuries in humans. But the idea that parts of the
brain may be recoverable after death, as conventionally defined,
contradicts everything medical science believes about the organ and
poses metaphysical riddles.
