Scientists restored some activity within the brains of pigs that had been slaughtered hours before, raising hopes for some medical advances and questions about the definition of death.
The brains could not think or sense anything, researchers stressed. By medical standards "this is not a living brain," said Nenad Sestan of the Yale School of Medicine, one of the researchers reporting the results Wednesday in the journal Nature.
Such research might lead to new therapies for stroke and other conditions, as well as provide a new way to study the brain and how drugs work in it, researchers said. They said they had no current plans to try their technique on human brains.The 32 brains came from pigs killed for food at a local slaughterhouse. Scientists put the brains into an apparatus in their lab. Four hours after the animals died, scientists began pumping a specially designed blood substitute through the organs.
Researchers are now seeing if they can keep the brain functions they observed going for longer than six hours of treatment, which Latham said would be necessary to use the technology as a research tool.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Chinese scientists give monkeys human brain genes in 'morally risky' experimentThe monkeys didn’t grow bigger brains, but they do have better short-term memory and faster reaction times compared to monkeys without human brain genes
Read more »
1 Hour of Peppa Pig Per Day Gave My Daughter a British Accent | CBC ParentsChildren’s speech patterns can actually be affected when watching television from other linguistic regions, but it’s nothing to worry about.
Read more »
Jack Ma called an 'insane VILE pig' on social media for endorsing 996 work scheduleThe Alibaba co-founder once more endorsed the sector’s infamous 12-hours-a-day, six-days-a-week routine as de rigueur for passionate young workers
Read more »
Morgan Stanley profit drops 9 per cent as trading activity fallsThe bank said earnings attributable to common shareholders fell to $2.34 billion, or $1.39 per share, in the first quarter ended March 31, from $2.58 billion, or $1.45 per share, a year ago
Read more »
U.S. to decide on Spanish firm Repsol’s Venezuela activity in ‘coming days’Since the United States imposed fresh sanctions on Venezuela and its state-run oil firm PDVSA, the country’s main oil and oil products suppliers have been Repsol, Russian state oil major Rosneft, India’s Reliance Industries and trading houses Vitol and Trafigura
Read more »
Social housing providers will be 'empowered' to ban tenants evicted for criminal activity: provinceThe province has vowed to make community housing safer by “empowering” housing providers to reject tenants who have been evicted for criminal activity in the past.
Read more »
Computer program could help track progress of brain-injured patients after release from ICU, study findsThe study, led by researchers at the University of Western Ontario’s Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry and the Brain and Mind Institute, used an online tool to assess the cognitive abilities of patients leaving the intensive care unit (ICU)
Read more »
Ketamine works its magic on depression by 'stabilizing the brain in a well state' | CBC RadioThe drug ketamine has a reputation as a psychedelic party drug, but in lower doses it's been shown to bring remarkable relief to severe cases of depression. Scientists think it helps restore synapses in the brain that are destroyed by stress. | CBCQuirks
Read more »
Canadian researchers hope new drugs possible for brain cancer Gord Downie hadCanadian researchers have identified genes in brain cancer stem cells that fuel the growth and survival of glioblastoma in hopes their data will be mined to develop treatments targeting an aggressive tumour that claimed the life of Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie.
Read more »