UNITED STATES: The most recent study may alter how we define death since, in a potentially ground-breaking discovery, a group of researchers were able to revive the blood flow of pigs that were dead for an hour. In other organs, they were also able to recover cell function.
Researchers from Yale University claimed that they employed cutting-edge technology to restore cells and bring the animals’ cells back to life in a study published on Wednesday, August 3, in the academic journal Nature.
Earlier in 2019, a US-based team was able to revive cells in pigs’ brains hours after they had been torn from their heads. In the most recent study, the researchers expanded the same methods used in 2019 to incorporate the entire body. To experiment, they inflicted heart attacks on the anaesthetized pigs. When the blood stopped flowing through the bodies, they used the technique.
The study appears to mark a turning point in the transplantation of human organs, opening up new possibilities. Organs may live longer thanks to the researcher’s technology even after death. It may be a godsend for many millions of individuals all around the world.
David Andrijevic, a co-author of the study and an associate research scientist in neuroscience at Yale School of Medicine, said: “Not every cell dies at once; there is a long chain of events. During this process, you can obstruct, stop, and partially restore cellular function.”
Assistant professor of bioethics Brendan Parent at NYU Grossman School of Medicine was astonished. According to Parent, “My thoughts went to all the wild places we could go in 20 or 30 years,” as reported by sources. The study did not include parents.
A fluid including their blood, a synthetic form of haemoglobin, and drugs that protect cells and prevent blood clots was injected into the carcasses of deceased pigs. The protein that carries oxygen in red blood cells is called hemoglobin.
For the following six hours of the experiment, blood began to circulate once more, and numerous cells, including those in the heart, liver, and kidney, started to function.
“These cells were working hours after they should not have been,” said Nenad Sestan, a researcher at Yale University and the study’s senior author, to sources. “What this shows us is that the demise of cells can be prevented.” Such investigations raise one question, can we prevent death?
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