The idea that you can bring the dead back to life could one day turn from fiction into reality. Over the past few decades, medicine has made great strides: surgery, organ transplantation, and mechanical substitutes. It was even possible to make the stopped heart beat again. The brain is still more complicated - but in the future - there is a possibility - the brain will also learn to revive.
The brain is made up of billions of neurons connected by synapses. When the heart stops, blood stops flowing to the brain. After a few minutes, some nerve cells die and others become overly active in an attempt to survive. The electrical charge changes uncontrollably, toxic chemical compounds accumulate and damage the cell membrane of neurons. Then, after a while, the brain dies completely. However, researchers have found that the brain has a small store of stem cells from which new neurons can grow. Hence the hypothesis that, perhaps, these cells can be used to repair brain tissue - for example, by injecting stem cells into a dead brain. If dead neurons can be replaced, maybe the brain will come back to life?
Experiments have shown that stem cells injected into the brains of mice grow into functional neurons that are capable of forming new synapses. In the future, this information may help, for example, in the rehabilitation of patients after a stroke. Clinical trials are underway for stem cell therapy for patients with Parkinson's disease. Experts from the US-based Bioquark are planning to try injecting stem cells into the spinal cord of patients who have been diagnosed with brain death. Also, the bodies will be injected with proteins, electrically stimulated nerves, and the brain will be exposed to a laser. The goal of the experiments is also to grow new neurons and form connections between them. There is a chance that at some stage it will be possible to bring the brain back to life. However, certain questions arise - for example,How many neurons need to be replaced for a person to become a completely different person? Will he behave differently if the cells in his head are connected differently? The answers do not yet exist, but scientists hope that if everything worked in mice, it might work in humans.