comments:
This experiment is even more crazy because not only were the pig brains dead, they had been decapitated 4-16 hours prior to application of the treatment. This flies in the face of the conventional medical wisdom that for the past 50 years had said that brain tissue is damaged and degenerates extremely quickly after the cessation of oxygen and blood to the brain. This study (and others after it) have shown that brain tissue is actually viable for resuscitation and healthy functioning HOURS after blood and oxygen have stopped. What typically causes the quick degeneration of brain tissue actually happens after resuscitation - restoring blood flow and oxygen to the brain tissue causes inflammation and toxins in the blood that accumulated while the blood was not flowing re-enters the brain tissue and cannot be cleared easily leading to massive cell death and damage. This is called Re-Perfusion Injury. If you want to learn more about this experiment or the subject, check out these sources: Lucid Dying: The New Science Revolutionizing How We Understand Life and Death Scientists restore some functions in a pig's brain hours after death - YaleNews Restoration of brain circulation and cellular functions hours post-mortem - Nature