Researchers Use Cryogenics To Restore Rabbit Brain

(Photo : Getty Images/David McNew) Researchers have used cryogenic technology to successfully freeze and recover a brain belonging to a small mammalian.

Researchers have used cryogenic technology to successfully freeze and recover a brain belonging to a small mammalian rabbit.

Researchers from 21st Century Medicine cryogenically preserved the rabbit brain and were able to return the brain to its near original state using a method known as Aldehyde-stabilized cryopreservation (ASC), writes Nature World News.

"Using a combination of ultrafast chemical fixation and cryogenic storage, it is the first demonstration that near¬ perfect, long-term structural preservation of an intact mammalian brain is achievable," the Brain Preservation Foundation wrote in a news release.

The Brain Preservation Foundation awarded the researchers the Small Mammal Brain Preservation Prize in recognition of their feat.

The team of researchers, which was led by recent Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate Robert McIntyre, filled the vascular system of the rabbit brain with decay preventing chemicals before cooling it to -211 degrees Fahrenheit.

After allowing the brain to thaw, the researchers found that synapses, cell membranes and intracellular structures contained within the brain were all still intact.

"Every neuron and synapse looks beautifully preserved across the entire brain," Kenneth Hayworth, the Brain Preservation Foundation president, said in the release. "Simply amazing given that I held in my hand this very same brain when it was vitrified glassy solid ... This is not your father's cryonics."

Existing cryopreservation methods are not effective as they cause dehydration, which leads to neural connection damage. While the rabbit's brain cannot yet be revived, the research suggests that the neural components holding information relating to personal identity can be preserved.

The research team is currently in the midst of testing their new ASC technique on the brain of a pig, which has a number of similarities to the human brain. They are currently awaiting the results of the new experiment.

The study was recently published in the journal Cryobiology.