Valery Donov, a 30-year-old Russian computer scientist who suffers from Hoffmann muscular dystrophy, said he decided to have his head transplanted by Italian doctor Sergio Canavero Surgery to attach the head to a new body. Dr. Canavero named the plan HEAVEN, short for "Head Joining Surgery." He said at the beginning of this year that bottlenecks in human brain transplantation such as spinal cord fusion and preventing immune system rejection can be overcome and will be realized as early as 2017.
Tadpole Jun invited You Siwei, a professor of ophthalmology at the Xi'an Fourth Military Medical University's Institute of Neuroscience and Xijing Hospital, to talk with you about whether the incredible "head transplant" can be realized.
Tadpole Jun: Is head transplant surgery theoretically feasible?
You Siwei: It is theoretically feasible. In the early 1980s, with the continuous improvement and improvement of neuroscience research technology, Canadian scientist Albert Aguayo implanted a section of peripheral nerves taken from the hind limbs of rats into the spinal cord, successfully inducing the severed central nervous system to Long-distance regeneration in peripheral nerves demonstrates for the first time that the central nervous system, including the brain and spinal cord, can be induced to regenerate. This major breakthrough makes it theoretically possible for humans to finally overcome chronic diseases of the central nervous system, and has also reignited people's enthusiasm for exploring head replacement.
Over the past thirty years, with the unremitting efforts of neuroscientists from all over the world, encouraging progress has been made in extremely complex central nervous system regeneration research. Scientists have finally found some way to allow rats that have had their spinal cords completely severed to limp around with their once-paralyzed hind limbs.
The significance of these research results is that the upper and lower connections between the injured spinal cord and the brain can eventually be rebuilt, paraplegic patients are expected to get rid of their wheelchairs and stand and walk again, and the dream of changing their heads is also theoretically possible. .
Tadpole: Have scientists done similar experiments before?
You Siwei: There have been reports of similar animal experiments before. Since the beginning of the last century, American and Russian scientists have tried several times to change the heads of dogs, but without success. In the 1970s, American neurosurgeon Robert White achieved initial success. After long-term and unremitting efforts, he invented advanced medical equipment that can reduce the temperature of blood circulation in the head being prepared for head transplantation to 10 degrees Celsius, so that the monkey brain can survive the head transplantation operation for more than an hour, which interrupts blood circulation. No death occurs.
The most sensational monkey head-replacement operation was performed by Dr. White at the beginning of this century. Not only did the head-replaced monkey survive consciously for a period of time with the blood supply of the allogeneic heart, but it was also able to see and hear. , can blink, and has the sense of taste and smell, because these functions are controlled by the cranial nerves themselves and do not require the reconstruction of the nerve connection between the brain and the spinal cord.
Dr. White’s animal head transplant surgery only involves connecting the allogeneic monkey head to the torso, fixing the spine with a metal piece, and anastomosing the blood vessels between the head and body to restore blood circulation to the brain. After the operation is successful, In a short period of time, it is ensured that the new body will not reject the grafted new head due to immune response, or that the monkey head will not reject its new body. Because the upper and lower connections between the brain and spinal cord can never be restored