TECH

Research has pointed out that neurons 'store' energy in the hope that the body will work again- G.I

Pioneer study explains what happens to the brain at the very moment we die

What goes on in our head at the moment of death?
It is not known exactly and, although the scientists have some answer, the answer remains a great mystery. Aside from a difficult solution, attempting to answer it can create ethical implications.
However, a team of scientists at Charitée University in Berlin and also the University of Cincinnati in the United States have found a way to conduct a pioneering study on the neurobiology of death. The research was led by scientist Jens Dreier.
The title of the research was "Depolarization of terminal diffusion and electrical silence in the death of the human cerebral cortex." To accomplish this, the scientists needed the consent of the relatives of several terminal patients. The study required neural monitoring considered invasive.
The patients had suffered terrible traffic accidents, strokes or cardiac arrest. That is, in these cases, there was no longer any way to save them, the researchers said.
In working with these people, scientists have discovered that the brains of animals and humans die in a similar way. They now say but there is also a minute moment when the brain's functioning can be restored, at least hypothetically.
The purpose of the study was not only to look at the last moments of a brain, but also to understand how it would be possible to save lives in the future.

The team of researchers wanted to have more details about what happens to the human brain, something that was still full of puzzles.For this, as the terminal patient worsened, the scientists monitored their neurological activity using dozens of electrodes.First, in eight of the ten patients, the researchers detected the movement of brain cells that tried to prevent the inevitable, that is, the death that was already approaching.In general, neurons work with charged ions, which creates electrical imbalances between them and their environment - this allows small shocks, or signals, to be created. For the authors of the study, maintaining this system becomes more difficult when death is coming.To feed, these cells "drink" oxygen and chemical energy from the bloodstream. When the body dies and the flow of blood reaches the brain, neurons - deprived of oxygen - attempt one of their last outputs: to accumulate the resources that are left over, the researchers say.

Sending signals from side to side, as it usually does, ends up becoming a waste in the last moments of life. Therefore, neurons "shut up" and, instead of sending signals, use their reserves of energy to maintain internal electrical charges, waiting for the return of a flow of blood that will never come.

This phenomenon was called "non-dispersed depression" because it occurs simultaneously throughout the brain.
Then what follows is the "depolarization of diffusion" phase, known as the "brain tsunami". There is a great release of thermal energy because the electrochemical equilibrium that keeps living cells collapsing - this "tsunami" leads to intoxication and destruction of cells.
All these reactions were observed by the scientists in terminal patients. And as oxygen levels fell, electrical activity also muted throughout the brain.
That's when death comes.
However, the study revealed that in the future, this whole process may not be as inevitable as it is now.

"Expansive depolarization marks the beginning of the toxic cell changes that eventually lead to death, but it is not the key point of death alone, as this depolarization is reversible to some extent, with restoration of the energy supply," said principal author of the study, Jens Dreier of the Cardiovascular Accident Research Center at Charité University in Berlin.
The data obtained by the study, published by the scientific journal Annals of Neurology, point out that cellular resuscitation is still possible. However, further research must be done until this is possible.
As Dreier points out, "death is a complex phenomenon" for which "there are no easy answers."

Source:bbc.com