A device has been developed to maintain autonomous brain activity

Researchers have developed a device that isolates the blood flow supplying the brain to keep it alive independently of the rest of the body. In tests on pig models, the device maintained virtually all of the organ's functions for five hours.

The new device, described in the journal Scientific Reports, is a computer-controlled mechanical system that regulates perfusion and blood composition. The brain is isolated from the body and then supplied with a controlled blood flow. The device is adapted to the natural arterial and venous blood flow of pigs.

The new device, called Extracorporeal Pulsatile Circulatory Control (EPCC), uses a pulsating flow comparable to that of the heart. This avoids the side effects caused by standard devices (such as hemorrhage). In order to perform neurophysiologic studies consistent with natural conditions, the device was configured to preserve higher order neuronal activity, as evidenced by continuous electrocorticography and intracerebral field potential recordings (deep electrode recordings).

To assess the preservation of brain activity during EPCC, recordings were performed before and during perfusion with minimal intervening anesthesia. Upon analysis, the researchers found that the animals' brain activity parameters changed little, if any, over the 5-hour period. Brain activity remained unchanged or only slightly disturbed from normal, as did oxygenation levels, internal pressure, temperature and microscopic structure. "This new method allows brain studies to be performed independently of the body, making it possible to answer physiological questions in a way that has never been done before," concludes one of the developers, Juan M. Pascual of Southwestern Medical Center (USA).