IS LIFE AFTER DEATH POSSIBLE? | ORGAN EX

 It may seem difficult to imagine life after death, but researchers at Yale University have discovered something incredible. In 2019, researchers at Yale University found that the pig's organ can still function after 4 hours of no blood circulation. The perfusion system, Brain Ex, continuously delivers oxygen and nutrients to the circulation of brain supplementary tissue, allowing the pig brain to restore the function of some brain supplementary tissue.

“All cells do not die immediately, there is a more protracted series of events,” said David Andrijevic, an associate research scientist in neuroscience at Yale School of Medicine.

After finding this next step is how to resurrect other organs.

“If we were able to restore certain cellular functions in the dead brain, an organ known to be most susceptible to ischemia [inadequate blood supply], we hypothesized that something similar could also be achieved in other vital transplantable organs,” said Sestan Professor of Neuroscience and professor of comparative medicine, genetics, and psychiatry.

 

On August 3rd, the journal Nature published the latest research. In addition to a previous study, which attempted to resurrect other organs using new technology that the team introduced, Organ Ex, which delivers a specially designed cell-protective fluid to organs and tissues, the researchers restored blood circulation and other functions after an hour of death.

 

Illustration of organ perfusion and cell recovery using the Organ Ex system

The new study uses an upgraded version of Brain Ex called Organ Ex for the whole body. During the procedure, this technology acts as a heart and lung. Before the start of the experiment, the researchers induced a heart attack in the anesthetized pig, which caused it to die. After death, the blood ceases to circulate, making it impossible for the blood to deliver nutrition and oxygen to the different cells for living.

 

An hour later, the scientists used Organ Ex technology to resuscitate a pig. After 6 hours of treatment with Organ Ex, scientists discovered that astounding cellular structures were active in some places of the body. The heart, lungs, kidneys, and other organs start functioning. In short, the organ began working again a few hours after his death.

 “We were also able to restore circulation throughout the body, which amazed us,” Sestan said.

The researcher was shocked to see the spontaneous movement of the pig head and nick after 6 hours of treatment with Organ Ex. Researchers are unable to explain the pig's instinctive action clearly. However, the researcher stated that further studies are needed to understand the function's restoration.

 

The organ Ex Technology appears to be more efficient than the ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation), also known as extracorporeal life support, which is utilized in organ transplantation, giving patients life support during transplantation. The organ Ex extends the life of human organs and increases the number of organs available for transplant.

 “There are numerous potential applications of this exciting new technology,” said Stephen Latham, director of the Yale Interdisciplinary Centre for Bioethics.

 

This works for pigs, but what about humans?

Pigs are utilized in the experiment because they are around our size and have hearts and blood vessels that are quite like ours. Many successful animal experiments have been conducted throughout history, but they do not apply to humans. The reason for this is that conducting such an experiment poses a significant risk to human life. The resurrection of pig organs demonstrated by Organ Ex technology likewise takes longer to demonstrate and apply.