Scientists from Sun Yat-sen University in China successfully restored brain activity in pigs nearly an hour after blood circulation had stopped. In some cases, this activity was sustained for several hours. The researchers suggest that this breakthrough could soon extend the window for successful recovery after cardiac arrest. The key to this success was the inclusion of the liver in the recovery process, as reported by ScienceAlert. Sudden cardiac arrest causes a drop in blood flow (ischemia), which is especially dangerous for the brain, leading to severe and irreversible damage within minutes. The limited recovery time after cardiac arrest is due to this rapid brain deterioration. In recent years, scientists have been experimenting with pigs to explore ways to delay brain damage following ischemia. In the study, researchers induced brain ischemia in 17 laboratory-bred Tibetan pigs for 30 minutes. One group also experienced liver ischemia, while the other did not. When the pigs’ brains were examined, those without liver ischemia showed significantly less brain damage. The next step was to see if a healthy liver could be integrated into a life support system to revive the brain of a pig that had been euthanized. This system typically includes an artificial heart and lungs to circulate fluid through the brain. In one group, the liver was added to this setup. In the system without the liver, electrical activity appeared in the brain within 30 minutes, but gradually declined afterward. The researchers then tested various intervals for connecting the brain to the liver support system—after 30, 50, 60, and 240 minutes. They found that the 50-minute interval showed the most promise, with brain activity resuming and being sustained for six hours. In contrast, brains deprived of oxygen for 60 minutes only maintained activity for three hours, highlighting the critical timeframe in which resuscitation using a functioning liver can be effective. The study’s findings underscore the liver’s crucial role in protecting the brain after cardiac arrest. The research is published in EMBO Molecular Medicine. The post Scientists Restore Pig’s Brain Activity an Hour After Death appeared first on Anomalien.com.