Neurobiologists at China's Sun Yat-sen University have revived pigs' brains an hour after the animals died. Sometimes, they were able to keep the brains functioning for hours. The trick was to use the animal's liver as a kind of life support system for the brain. Eventually, the research could lead to new possibilities for resuscitating humans whose blood circulation was stopped by cardiac arrest.
From Science Alert:
The basic life support system involved an artificial heart and lungs to help pump fluid through the brain. For one group, a pig's liver was integrated into the system, known as liver-assisted brain normothermic machine perfusion[…]These results, the researchers say, suggest the liver plays an important role in the development of brain injury following cardiac arrest. The findings suggest new avenues for research into brain injury, and may, hopefully, improve survival rates and recovery outcomes for human patients in the future.
More about the experiments in the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine.
Previously:
• Massachusetts man is first human to get genetically modified pig kidney transplant
• Scientists revive dead pigs' brain cells and other organs
• Man lives six weeks with pig's heart