In a feat straight out of science fiction, Chinese researchers have successfully revived a pig’s brain one hour after it was removed from the body, marking a potentially groundbreaking advance in understanding brain function and life support technology.
At the Guangdong Provincial International Cooperation Base of Science and Technology, scientists have achieved a remarkable feat: they restored brainwaves—signals thought to indicate conscious activity—in the brain of a deceased pig.
This breakthrough relies on an innovative technique that integrates a healthy liver into an artificial life-support system sustaining the brain. The liver plays a crucial role by producing “ketone bodies,” backup energy molecules that appear to protect the brain from damage, providing fresh insights into brain preservation and injury prevention.
By combining a live liver with artificial heart and lung support, scientists were able to keep the pig’s brain “conscious” for up to six hours after it had died for 50 minutes, offering exciting possibilities for future life-saving applications.
This pioneering technique, used so far in pigs, could soon be applied to humans
While tested only in pigs so far, researchers believe this technique could soon be applied to humans. They propose that gene-edited pig livers could help resuscitate heart attack patients, who suffer critical oxygen and energy loss during cardiac arrest. A lack of blood flow, or ischemia, often leads to irreversible brain damage within minutes.
Examining cardiac arrest data, the researchers noticed that patients with liver ischemia had poorer neurological outcomes and higher mortality rates, while those with healthy livers had better recovery. This suggests a potential link between liver function and brain resilience, paving the way for new resuscitation methods that might one day save countless lives.
