A groundbreaking trial to see if it is possible to regenerate¹ the brains of dead people, has won approval from health watchdogs.

 

探究死者大脑能否重获新生的开创性实验已获卫生监管部门批准可以开展。

 

A biotech company in the US has been granted ethical² 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 cocktail³ of peptides, as well as deploying⁴ lasers and nerve stimulation⁵ techniques which have been shown to bring patients out of comas⁶.

 

The trial participants will have been certified⁷ 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 spinal⁸ 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 erase⁹ 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.

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