Preparations for the head transplant continue
Kanavero: Russian scientists are involved in preparing for a head transplant
Italian surgeon Sergio Canavero and his Chinese colleague Zhen Xiaoping talked about how they will perform a head transplant operation, how they will deal with the consequences of transplantation and how Russian scientists are involved in this process in a series of articles in the professional medical journal Surgery (Brain protection during cephalosomatic anastomosis; Neurological foundations of spinal cord fusion (GEMINI); Fusogen-assisted rapid reconstruction of anatomophysiological continuity of the transected spinal cord).
"Now scientists all over the world have everything to independently verify the operability of the GEMENI HEAVEN head transplant protocol. I am sure that surgeons in Russia will be interested in these materials as a way to enter the race with China to implement all stages of the procedure," Sergio Canavero said in an interview with Valery Spiridonov, the first candidate for a head transplant.
These materials, which Canavero talks about, were recently published in the journal Surgery as part of a special issue dedicated to the problems of head transplantation. In these articles, Canavero, Xiaoping and their associates revealed details of how the GEMINI protocol works, how to minimize damage to nerve fibers during head separation and how to protect the brain from death due to "oxygen starvation" and terrible pain after transplantation.
According to the Italian surgeon, Russian scientists and Russian scientific developments have played a key role in ensuring the protection of the brain. The problem, according to Canavero, is that a head separated from the body cannot be attached to a new body instantly – surgeons will need at least 30 minutes to transplant it.
The human brain can live without access to oxygen and nutrients for only about seven minutes, which has posed a problem for scientists – how to prevent its death during transplantation. Experiments conducted by Zhen Xiaoping on mice last year pointed to a possible solution to this problem.
It consists in the fact that the head during the transplant will connect to the circulatory system of another person and at the same time cool down to a temperature of 29-33 degrees, which will lower the metabolic rate and prolong the life of neurons when the head is "disconnected" from the circulatory system. According to scientists, lowering body temperature by 7 degrees reduces the metabolic rate by about 50%. Cooling the body to 15 degrees, in principle, can prolong the life of the brain for about an hour.
The second key component of this approach is the Russian drug perfluorane, created at the Institute of Biological Physics of the USSR Academy of Sciences as an artificial blood substitute. This substance, in combination with hydrogen sulfide and other substances, will provide the brain with oxygen during surgery. According to scientists, the use of perfluorane can prolong the life of body organs by about 4-5 times.
Now, according to the authors of the article, their Chinese colleagues are already conducting the first experiments on head transplantation and restoration of normal blood circulation on corpses, as well as conducting similar studies on monkeys and rats.
In addition to the brain protection technique, articles in the journal Surgery presented details on how the connection between the spinal cord and the head will be restored (GEMINI protocol), and how polyethylene glycol and other fusogen substances will help restore limb mobility.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru
13.05.2016