FOR the first time, scientists have successfully managed to cryogenically freeze a brain and then revive it.
Scientists have successfully cryogenicaly frozen a brain
In a step towards eternal life, researchers from 21st Century Medicine (21CM) managed to freeze the brain of a rabbit using a technique known as Aldehyde-stabilized cryopreservation (ASC).
The team, led by recent Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate Robert McIntyre, wrote in a press release: "Using a combination of ultrafast chemical fixation and cryogenic storage, it is the first demonstration that near perfect, long-term structural preservation of an intact mammalian brain is achievable.
Scientists preserved a rabbit brain
They achieved this by filling the vascular system of the brain with chemicals that are designed to halt the decaying process, and then froze it to -135 degrees celsius.
When the brain was warmed, the scientists found that the majority of its cell membranes, synapses and structures were still in tact and ready to function.
A statement read: The key breakthrough was the quick perfusion of a deadly chemical fixative (glutaraldehyde) through the brains vascular system, rapidly stopping metabolic decay and fixing proteins in place by covalent crosslinks.
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Kenneth Hayworth, the Brain Preservation Foundation president, said: "Every neuron and synapse looks beautifully preserved across the entire brain.
Simply amazing given that I held in my hand this very same brain when it was vitrified glassy solid... This is not your father's cryonics.
The Brain Foundation Preservation said of the next step: Focus now shifts to the final Large Mammal phase of the contest which requires an intact pig brain to be preserved with similar fidelity in a manner that could be directly adapted to terminal patients in a hospital setting.
The end goal, according to the report published in Cryobiology, is to create a freezing process which doesnt dehydrate the brain, which would be suitable for human use in the future.
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