6 votes

Death could be reversible, as scientists bring dead eyes back to life

Posted by drannex
Tags: biology, longevity, research, reanimation, death, breakthroughs, scientists, eyes, central nervous system, author.sarah knapton, source.the telegraph, paywall
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/05/11/eyes-organ-donors-brought-back-life-giving-glimpse-future-brain/

Link information

This data is scraped automatically and may be incorrect.

Authors
By Sarah Knapton,, Juliet Samuel, By Claudia Rowan, By Our Foreign Staff, Camilla Tominey, By Telegraph Reporters, By Victoria Ward
Published
May 11 2022
Word count
679 words

2 comments

  1. drannex
    Link

    Scientists in the US proved that photosensitive neuron cells in the retina can still respond to light and communicate with each other up to five hours after death, sending signals “resembling those recorded from living subjects”.

    Lead author Dr Fatima Abbas, of the Moran Eye Centre at the University of Utah, said: “We were able to wake up photoreceptor cells in the human macula, which is the part of the retina responsible for our central vision and our ability to see fine detail and colour.

    “In eyes obtained up to five hours after an organ donor’s death, these cells responded to bright light, coloured lights and even very dim flashes of light.”

    [Previously] In 2019, Yale University restarted the brains of 32 decapitated pigs which had been slaughtered four hours earlier, switching on blood circulation and metabolism, using a cocktail of chemicals.

    But experts said the new research had gone one step further, restoring b-waves - the slow, rhythmic oscillations recorded in living brains.

    2 votes
  2. sharpstick
    Link

    They soon realised that a lack of oxygen was driving the silence, and so designed a special transportation unit that could restore oxygenation and other nutrients to eyes as soon as they were removed from a donor.

    1 vote