Bringing dead back to life in groundbreaking project

[Plazma Inferno!]

A biotech company in the US has been granted ethical permission to recruit 20 patients who have been declared clinically dead from a traumatic brain injury, to test whether parts of their central nervous system can be brought back to life.
Scientists will use a combination of therapies, which include injecting the brain with stem cells and a cocktail of peptides, as well as deploying lasers and nerve stimulation techniques which have been shown to bring patients out of comas.
The trial participants will have been certified dead and only kept alive through life support. They will be monitored for several months using brain imaging equipment to look for signs of regeneration, particularly in the upper spinal cord - the lowest region of the brain stem which controls independent breathing and heartbeat.
The team believes that the brain stem cells may be able to erase their history and re-start life again, based on their surrounding tissue – a process seen in the animal kingdom in creatures like salamanders who can regrow entire limbs.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/...ought-back-to-life-in-groundbreaking-project/

 

[Q-reeus]

A biotech company in the US has been granted ethical permission to recruit 20 patients who have been declared clinically dead from a traumatic brain injury,...

Recruit? If it's possible to 'recruit' a brain-dead individual, that's got to be bigger news than any success in reviving such. Or maybe a dictionary definition has just been expanded.

 

[Plazma Inferno!]

Recruit? If it's possible to 'recruit' a brain-dead individual, that's got to be bigger news than any success in reviving such. Or maybe a dictionary definition has just been expanded.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[Billy T]

A very critical part of the brain stem is the "reticular formation," but it is not a well segrated in location part:

The reticular formation consists of more than 100 small neural networks, with varied functions:
1: Somatic motor control ....
2: Cardiovascular control ....
3: Pain modulation ....
4: Sleep and consciousness – The reticular formation has projections to the thalamus and cerebral cortex that allow it to exert some control over which sensory signals reach the cerebrum and come to our conscious attention. It plays a central role in states of consciousness likealertness and sleep. Injury to the reticular formation can result in irreversible coma.
5: Habituation – This is a process in which the brain learns to ignore repetitive, meaningless stimuli while remaining sensitive to others. ...,

The reticular formation is a portion of the brain that is located in the central core of the brain stem. It passes through the medulla, pons, and stops in the midbrain. Its functions can be classified into 4 categories: motor control, sensory control, visceral control, and control of consciousness. Motor control refers to physical movements or activities such as walking or running. Sensory control consists of all the senses including pain. Visceral control encompasses breathing, heart rate and blood pressure. Control of consciousness refers to alertness, sleeping, and various conscious states.

I. e. this seldom mentioned part of the brain, may the the most important. Quite possibly, it was the "brain stem" with other parts (medulla, pons, etc.) added later by evolution, but still is the central core of the brain stem.