Researchers Resuscitate Pig Brains Hours After Death

(Credit: janecat/shutterstock) Researchers say they've rebooted pigs’ brains four hours after the animals died. The scientists managed to restore some blood flow and brain cell activity to the dead animals' brains by pumping a protective solution through the tissue using a proprietary technology they call BrainEx. The brain was never alert and researchers did not restore consciousness, but the work could lead to new ways to aid recovery after trauma like heart attacks and strokes, the researchers say. “BrainEx’s cell-protective formulations may someday find application in therapies for disorders such as stroke,” Nenad Sestan, a neuroscientist at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, who led the new research, said in a press announcement.