The head and body are unified. Previously, the concept of head transplantation belonged to science fiction. Today, advanced technologies and research indicate that operations as complex as brain transplants are achievable. This operation offers a life-saving solution for patients afflicted with terminal illnesses that do not affect the head, provided their head and brain remain healthy.
The brain has a complex structure, which controls the entire body in coordination with several organs. It helps people to maintain their unique characters. Damages, traumas, and accidents may have effects on our body, but it is the brain that provides our personality.
At the time, whole body organisms are working except the brain, the body is said to be brain-dead. There is nothing to do with this situation but transplant another brain.
Researchers considered this approach for assisting individuals experiencing brain death in conflicts such as the Cold War.
This document will provide details regarding the history and difficulties associated with brain transplantation.
Researchers and surgeons who made profound contributions to the brain transplantation
At the threshold of the 20th century researchers started investigating the idea of head transplantation. In 1908, Charles Claude Guthrie and Alexis Carrel attempted to graft a dog’s head onto another dog. The procedure failed. They affixed one dog’s head onto the neck of a dog [1]. The arteries were linked so that blood reached the severed head initially and then the recipient’s head. The head was deprived of blood circulation for 20 minutes resulting in decline in its condition [2]. Their intended plans did not succeed; nevertheless, they made significant advances in knowledge of vessel anastomosis. In 1912, they received the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for their research on limb and organ transplantation [2].
At the start of 1950 a Russian researcher, Vladimir Demikhov, conducted than three hundred operations on dogs (Figure 1). These procedures involved heart transplantation, liver transplantation, and anastomosis. Nevertheless, he was not regarded as a surgeon since he had not yet earned his university diploma. Similar to his forerunners, Charles and Guthrie he significantly advanced transplant research in thoracic surgery [3].
Figure 1. Two-headed dog with Demikhov’s experiment [1].
In 1965 Robert White, a neurosurgeon from America tried to carry out a head transplant. His objective was to implant the brain than the entire head, into a detached body [4]. This necessitated a method compared to the procedures of those before him. In 1970, White conducted the cephalic Exchange transplantation in primates [4] (Figure 2). Within three to four hours post-operation, each cephalon could chew, swallow, follow objects with their eyes and bite [5].
Figure 2. The isolated primate cephalon was transplanted to the isolated monkey [1].
In 2017 Xiao-Ping Ren, a surgeon successfully carried out a cephalosomatic anastomosis, on a human cadaver [6]. He initially applied head-body transplant protocols developed in mice [7] (Figure 3).
Figure 3. a) Mouse model of head transplantation. b) The first monkey head transplantation [1].
Challenges of brain transplant
The main challenges they had were ischemia, reliable vessel anastomosis, and ethical considerations. People disagreed with using animals as a model for surgery. They called surgeons who wanted to perform surgery on animals heartless [4].
Discovering a method to assist individuals in distress is truly commendable. Nevertheless, conducting brain transplant surgery demands groundbreaking progress in fields like medicine, bioengineering, neurosurgery, and artificial intelligence [4].
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