At the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, a pig was put to sleep with special medicine for a very unique operation. The scientists there did something amazing: they managed to control the blood going just to the pig’s brain, effectively making the brain work on its own, separate from the pig’s body. They used a special machine, called the extracorporeal pulsatile circulatory control (EPCC) device, to keep the brain alive and working well for five whole hours.
This breakthrough machine helped the pig’s brain stay healthy and active all by itself. Juan Pascual, a professor at the university, explained that this new method lets scientists study the brain in a way that’s never been possible before. It means they can look at how the brain works without any effects from the rest of the body, which could lead to better machines for heart and lung support during surgery that mimic the natural flow of blood to the brain more closely.
But getting this new approach to work wasn’t easy. The team had to carefully change the way blood was delivered to the pig’s brain. They disconnected the main blood vessels that go from the body to the brain and hooked the brain up to the EPCC device to make sure it kept getting a steady flow of blood.
The main goal was to keep the brain functioning well while it was separated from the body, which they managed to control perfectly. The EPCC device is different from other heart-lung machines because it mimics the natural heartbeat, which could reduce the risk of brain problems that sometimes happen with those machines. The device can adjust many things like blood pressure, how much blood there is, how warm the blood is, and how much oxygen and nutrients are in it. They checked the brain’s activity with special tools and found that the brain stayed almost the same during the whole operation.
After the brain was isolated, the scientists could study how sugar affects the brain without worrying about other body parts interfering. According to Pascual, this is the first time scientists have been able to study the brain’s functions so closely without any impact from the rest of the body.
This study opens up new possibilities for understanding the brain and could lead to studies on humans in the future.
This article is based on the following article:
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a45875897/pig-brain-functions-without-body/
Background Information (for both this article and the article it is based on)
By understanding these terms and concepts, the reader can better appreciate the significance of the experiment with the pig’s brain and the potential impacts of this research on medical science and treatments.
1. Anesthesia: This is a medical treatment that prevents patients from feeling pain during surgery. It can make you sleep through the procedure or just numb a part of your body.
2. Blood Flow to the Brain: The brain needs a constant supply of blood, which carries oxygen and nutrients to work properly. This blood comes from the heart and travels through special tubes called arteries.
3. Extracorporeal Pulsatile Circulatory Control (EPCC) Device: Imagine a machine that can act like a heart outside the body to keep blood moving to the brain even when it’s not inside the body. This device can pump blood in a way that mimics the heart’s natural beat.
4. Cardiopulmonary Bypass: During some heart surgeries, doctors need to stop the heart temporarily. A cardiopulmonary bypass machine takes over the job of the heart and lungs, keeping blood flowing throughout the body and adding oxygen to it.
5. Isolating the Brain: This means separating the brain’s blood supply from the rest of the body, so scientists can study the brain by itself. This helps them understand how the brain works without interference from other body processes.
6. Electrocorticography and Brain-depth Electrodes: These are tools that doctors use to watch and measure the brain’s electrical activity. It helps them see how the brain is working.
7. Neural Activity: This refers to any action that happens in the brain, including thoughts, feelings, and controlling movements. Scientists study neural activity to understand more about how the brain functions.
8. Circulatory Manipulation: This means controlling the flow of blood in the body or to certain parts of it, like the brain. It can be important for surgeries or medical research.
Please subscribe to Insight Fortnight, our biweekly newsletter!