One of the strangest experiments: a monkey head transplant

Over the past hundred years, many things in medicine have occurred for the first time, including organ transplantation. Now the replacement of the heart, liver or lung is a very real and familiar process. But is it possible to transplant a person to a head? Scientists argue that such an accomplishment is not far off, because even a monkey head transplant is a passed stage. When and how will this happen? How did the first experiments in this area take place?

Difficulty of transplanting the head

All systems of our body are closely related. Each organ and cell in it can be compared with cogs and gears working in a holistic mechanism. The main thing in this complex design is the brain. It is the central point of government, responsible for the most important functions and processes, for example, thinking, perception, reactions, etc.

The brain is located in the cranium, and the dorsal is in the spine. Their connection provides us mobility, supports the work of organs, transmits nerve impulses. Its violation leads to the failure of the limbs, paralysis. Head transplantation could solve many problems for people with incurable trauma or genetic diseases. But is it possible?

At the present time, doctors have learned to sew blood vessels, muscles, connect bones, but the difficulty lies in the fusion of nerves. They are represented by hundreds of processes and bundles, each of which is responsible for its own group of organs. If it is wrong to connect all the "wires", the brain signals will come to the wrong parts of the body. In addition, there is a possibility that the transplanted body can perceive the head as a foreign body and try to tear it away.

First attempts

To carry out such a serious and painstaking operation, an extremely precise and complex technique is needed. Despite this, the idea of transplantation arose a long time ago. At the beginning of the 20th century, grafts of apes, mice and dogs were performed repeatedly. The first to experiment was the American Charles Claude Guthrie.

As objects for experience, he chose dogs. The operation took place in May 1908, and its results were published in the book of the scientist. For the experiment, Guthrie beheaded only one animal, sewing his head to the body of the whole dog.

So the scientist created the first "double-headed monster". The procedure took no more than twenty minutes. The sewn head was jawed up. The blood circulation began in the body, passed through the attached head, and then returned to the head of the whole dog. The animal had movements of nostrils, tongue, there was a narrowing of the pupils, but soon it died.

Experiments Demikhova

In the 50's, Vladimir Demikhov was carried away by similar experiments. The first in the world he transplanted the liver, lung, created an artificial heart. In 1954 it was time for the head too. To the body of adult dogs the scientist attached puppies.

Puppies were left and forelimbs. The animal was sedated with anesthesia, the thorax was cut to remove the lungs and the heart. Then part of the puppy was sewn to a healthy dog, connecting blood vessels.

The scientist made 20 operations for the transplantation of the heads. His subjects lived up to a week, and one pair managed to last a whole month. Unlike Garty's experiments, Demikhov's donor dog kept vital functions. She could drink water, react to others and even bite her "neighbor" when she did not like something.

Monkey head transplantation

Demikhov's incredible success inspired many specialists. He was christened father of transplantology, and his works became widely known abroad. He was fascinated by the American neurosurgeon Robert White. In 1970 under his leadership there was an operation to transplant the head of a monkey.

For the experiment, animals similar in weight and physique were chosen. The body of the monkey did not move after the transplant, but the senses worked perfectly. She perceived smells, sounds, she could see and eat. Waking up, the monkey roared and tried to bite. At first glance, the transplantation of the monkey's head was successful.

Soon the immune system began to reject the head. The animal lasted only nine days. White continued his research in the hope of switching to human operations. If successful, the patients could become physicist Stephen Hawking and actor Christopher Reeve. The public did not approve of the idea of experiments on humans.

Improvement of procedure

The baton with transplants was intercepted only in 2002, having slightly changed the tasks. Prior to this, the experiments were aimed at studying the transplant in principle. It was important for scientists to check whether it is possible to connect someone else's head, at least to the circulatory system.

Now they faced a different goal: the nervous system. It was necessary not only to attach the head, but also to make it operate a new body. The solution of the problem was assumed by the Japanese. To prevent rapid dying of nerve endings and to preserve the motor functions of animals, they cooled the heads and bodies of the experimental subjects.

The experiments were performed on rats. They cut off the head, silicone tubes connected the vessels of the head and body, then proceeded to the nerves. Gluing of fibers took place under a microscope, using an ethylene glycol polymer. After that, they fastened the spine with plates, sewed muscles and tissues. Animals could move their limbs, but they did not live long.

Experiences in People

Ten years later, this technology was used to experiment with primates. Under the leadership of the Chinese neurosurgeon, Xiaopeng Ren, another monkey head transplant occurred. Before that, her temperature was reduced to a mark of 15 degrees. Nerve tissue of the animal is not damaged at all, which gave new hope to scientists.

Sergio Canavero expressed admiration for the work of the Chinese. In 2013, he loudly declared that he would do such an operation, but already on a man. The Italian is sure that the recent experience with the monkey has confirmed the readiness of medicine to take such a responsible step.

Of course, this requires a long preparation. The operation procedure itself needs improvement and practice. After all, success with rats was mixed. Many of the first "patients" remained paralyzed, others quickly died.

Head transplant programmer

Now the scientist is busy searching for sponsors and teams. The operation is scheduled for December 2017. Sergio Canavero claims that it will take approximately 36 hours. This will require about a hundred surgeons and $ 12 million.

Volunteer for the operation is already found. They will become a Russian Valery Spiridonov - a programmer from the city of Vladimir. The young man suffers from spinal-muscular atrophy. This is a genetic disease in which the muscles of the legs, head and neck are disturbed.

Valery Spiridonov regularly communicates with the scientist, discussing the details of the operation and the progress of the project. He realizes his risk, but he believes in the success of a desperate experiment. With his diagnosis, people live extremely little, but Valery managed to live up to 30, graduate from school and university, find a job, maybe the next step will turn out to be luck.

Ethics and skeptics

The proposed head transplant in 2017 caused a violent reaction in society. Opponents of this idea were divided into two main camps. The first is concerned with the ethical side of the issue, others are sure that, unfortunately, it is impossible to do such a trick.

Representatives of various religious faiths believe that the operation is a rivalry with God. Such actions can be safely considered the creation of a new organism, and this is already the prerogative of the Creator. In addition, the procedure is considered unnatural. It contradicts the natural laws and interferes with the Great Plan.

Skeptics are just convinced that humanity has not yet grown. Many do not deny the possibility of such an operation in the distant future, but not now. The main argument for the doubters is the inadequate development of technology, as well as the mass of psychological problems in the patient in case of success of the experiment.