Brain Preservation Breakthrough Could Usher in a New Era in Cryonics

Researchers from twenty-first Century Medicine have developed a new proficiency to appropriate longsighted term computer storage of a near - perfect mammalian brain . It ’s a breakthrough that could have serious implications for cryonics , and the futuristic prospect of bringing the frigid utter back to life .

By using a chemical compound to turn a rabbit ’s brain into a nigh glass - like state , and then cool it to -211 degrees Fahrenheit ( -135 degrees Celsius ) , a enquiry team from California - based21st Century Medicine(21CM ) showed that it ’s potential to enable near - perfect , long - terminus morphological preservation of an intact mammalian brain . The achievement has earned not just accolades from the scientific community of interests , but a prestigious honour as well ; the 21CM researchers are today being awarded the $ 26,735Small Mammal Brain Preservation Prize , which is pass by theBrain Preservation Foundation(BPF ) .

The new technique means that neuroscientists will now be capable to study brains , both beast and human being , in unprecedented detail . But it could also apply to cryonics — the practice of preserving a soul in cold storage in the hopes that they ’ll finally be brought back to life once the requisite technologies be .

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brainpower do n’t fare well during the cooling down process , even when advanced cryopreservants are used to protect the brain from freeze damage . This limitation has made it difficult for scientist to properly preserve and learn the head and its detailed vane of connections follow demise . Reversible cryopreservation — that holy Holy Grail of cryonics — has so far remained out of reach .

To change that , the BPF launch two contests back in 2010 , one for successfully certify the true foresightful term conservation of a small mammalian ’s learning ability , and a similar booty for doing the same in a large mammalian ( the Large Mammal Brain Preservation Prize ) . To win either , a research team had to prove that the ultrastructure of a mammalian mind — including the beast ’s entireconnectomeand synaptic structure — can be faithfully preserve indefinitely after death .

“ Fortunately this piece of work has been successful , as we have been able to validate the small mammal protocol , and are now work on evaluating the large mammal communications protocol , ” noted BPF vice - president and co - give way John Smart in an e-mail to Gizmodo .

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The 21st Century Medicine team , led by cryobiologist Robert McIntyre , break a way to bear on the fragile neural circuits of an entire rabbit brain using a glutaraldehyde - free-base fixative along with with cryogenic temperature reduction . The details of this function , called Aldehyde - Stabilized Cryopreservation ( ASC),can now be foundin the diary Cryobiology . The newfangled protocol was avow severally by neuroscientist and BPF president Dr. Kenneth Hayworth and Princeton University neuroscientist Dr. Sebastian Seung .

“ Every nerve cell and synapse looks beautifully preserved across the entire brain , ” noted Hayworth in a press command . “ Simply astonishing given that I held in my hand this very same brain when it was frozen solid … This is not your Padre ’s cryonics . ”

As an idea , cryonics has been around for decades . Back in the 1960s , fantast Robert Ettinger speculated that deceased individuals may finally be revived after extend storage in tub of swimming nitrogen . Half a century afterwards , cryobiologists are still struggling to keep idle somebody , get alone institute them back to life . As already note , reversible cryopreservation has prove difficult owing to the vivid impairment inflicted on brains during preservation — affair like fractures and damage to cell membrane .

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This underlying limitation has enliven a new multiplication of cryobiologists , who are focus on technique that preserve the frail pattern of synaptic connection , known as the “ connectome , ” that encode a individual ’s memory and identity operator . call plastination or chemopreservation , the new approach postulate chemic fixation and the embedding of mentality tissue paper in a plastic - like soma for farsighted - terminal figure storehouse . McIntyre ’s organisation is unique in that it combines chemical fixing with cryonics .

https://gizmodo.com/how-to-live-forever-by-turning-your-brain-into-plastic-5943304

This thought fits with recent evidence suggest that long - term memories are not altered by the preservation process . And indeed , the latest research suggests that memories and personal identity are physically encoded in the mastermind . scientist recently demonstrated that it ’s possibleto mark and erase memories in mice , while also “ incepting , ” or introducing , episodic hippocampal and cortical memory board into computer mouse via optogenetic revision of case-by-case neurons . “ This important workplace [ and others ] tell us more than we ’ve ever known before about the specific cellular and molecular procedure by which memories are made and stored in mammalian brains , ” Smart said .

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The trick is to capture this neurological information at the sufficient grade of resolve , and then stack away it for future use . To draw out that off , McIntyre perfuse a rabbit ’s vascular system with a chemic fixative call glutaraldehyde . This promptly stopped metabolic decay and fasten the proteins in place . Once stabilise , the tissue paper and vasculature was brought down to an optimum temperature . The researchers added cryoprotectant slowly over four 60 minutes to avoid damage the nous ’s structure . usually , a mastermind starts to degrade after just 30 minutes following end . But as McIntyre explained to Gizmodo , the “ glutaraldehyde [ bought ] us week and the cryoprotectant [ buy ] us one C . ” The resulting brain was fix and frozen — both literally and figuratively — such that its synaptic element remained integral .

McIntyre equate the process to preserving a book .

“ If brains are like al-Qur’an , ASC is like soaking a book in crystal - light epoxy resin and hardening it into a solid pulley-block of plastic , ” he explain . “ You ’re never going to start the book of account again , but if you’re able to show that the epoxy does n’t fade away the ink the book is written with , you’re able to demonstrate that all the parole in the book must still be there , bear on in the epoxy glue block like a fly in gold . ”

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If someone desire to restore the cognitive content of the Bible , McIntyre say they could cautiously slit it aside , digitally rake all the pages , and then print and rebind a new book with the same words . But that ’s only possible if the information is still intact , unaffected by the preservation mental process . Think of the brain ’s connectome as the countersign on the page of a book .

“ Overall , I think it is a neat step fore , ” explained Oxford University computational neuroscientist Anders Sandberg . “ Not a giant jump for world , but one of those utile things you necessitate to do the eventual giant leaps . ”

In term of cryonics and the prospect of whole brain emulation , Sandberg say it improve the overall mindset — at least if one believe that scanning and emulation is the mode to go . But not everyone is convinced that destructive scanning is the right-hand approach shot , or if cryonic technique in any materialization will ever wreak .

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“ To a functionalist like me , this is good tidings , ” he suppose . “ But I screw mass who holdthe body - identicalness view of personal personal identity : to them this is absolutely useless . And of form , others retrieve brain emulations will not be potential for other reasons — like uncomputability of intellect , or but because there might be some fragile property that is [ somehow ] disrupted in the saving . They will not be moved . But it is not clear what grounds would deepen their views . ”

https://gizmodo.com/you-ll-probably-never-upload-your-mind-into-a-computer-474941498

It stay to be see how this unexampled approach to wit saving will affect the cryonics community as a whole . Classicists atAlcorand theCryonics Institutesteadfastly consider that brains ( and bodies , for that matter ) must be preserved with as little damage as potential . But the “ plastinators , ” as the young breed is shout out , consider it ’s authoritative to preserve the info engraft in the brain , while point a low premium on conserve biological parts . As Sandberg luff out to Gizmodo , a arcdegree of tension is now emerging between the proponents of these two approaches , as witnessed by thistongue - in - nerve slideprepared by Greg Fahy of 21st Century Medicine .

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When asked which of the two proficiency he would utilise for himself , Sandberg pointed out that AMC has not been proven on larger head , and that he ’d rather utilize a method acting predicated on reviving tissue “ just in lawsuit . ” But establish the recent improvement in o.k. social organisation and conservation , he said he may shift to this method acting once it ’s been demonstrate in human wit .

McIntyre agrees , and allege the technique need to be discourse more before it can be considered in cryonics . “ It needs to be much more extensively test and made robust in a research setting , ” he say . “ A self-aggrandising title like this require a lot of grounds to support it . ”

[ Cryobiology , Brain Preservation Foundation ]

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