Preservation of the brain of a cryonics patient by the best means possible.
The theory is that only the information stored in the brain is important, and that a body to contain the revived brain could be cloned or regenerated in the future.
How will neuropreserved patients be recovered?
Regeneration has existed in nature for hundreds of millions of years. Our cells have the ability to regenerate new organs, tissues, and limbs. This complex program for regrowing parts of or whole human bodies is encoded and lies dormant in our genes. Extending these regenerative capabilities will allow for new bodies to regrow around the preserved brain from single cells. The new regenerated body will essentially be a younger, healthier clone of the original body. Programming a brain to regrow a new body may seem incredible, but nature already does things that are even more incredible. (Wilson, 2002) Currently there are only eighteen neurosuspended patients stored in Alcor Life Extension Foundation bank.
Why choose neuropreservationThe essential goal of neuropreservation is to preserved the brain so that the rapid evolution in technology to be witnessed over the coming several hundred years will fully restore patients to health. As biomedical technology continues to advance, neurosuspended patients will be revived in young and healthy bodies regenerated using the patient's genes and cells. Furthermore, advances in neuroscience today strongly suggest that preserved brains will contain our memories, identity, and consciousness, and therefore preservation technology, when it arrives, will make such brains available for future reading of memories, or full revival if desired. Neurosuspension, as well as Cryonics, in its most hopeful portrayals, is a promise of immortality. It is a second chance at life after death.
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Furthermore, compared to Cryonics...
- It is less expensive for it cost less to maintain just the brain than the whole body.
- The quality of brain preservation is much better in neuropatients. Cryoprotectants are more equally distributed through out the hemispheres of the brain and optimized without the interference of the other organs of the body.
- Newer and improve cryonic technologies are often made available to neuropatients before whole body patients.
is VITRIFICATION ALWAYS SUCCESSFUL?
No. According to the Alcor Life Extension Foundation, "current vitrification solutions are toxic to cell biochemistry by an unknown mechanism." Furthermore, cellular lesions due to thermal shock, rapid transmembrane movement of water, and toxicity caused by the high cryoprotectant concentrations can manifest in the tissues. The initial step in cryopreservation, dehydration, also causes cells to react and can lead to two types of lesions to the cells. Due to the loss of water, salt concentrations intensify denaturing the lipids and proteins that essentially constitute the cell membrane and result in differing pHs which in turn irreparably denatures vital proteins. (Bakhach, 2009) Also, if the patient is not stabilized after cardiac arrest, the cryoprotectants may not circulate through the brain properly. No known nanotechnology has been invented to reduce or repair these injuries to the tissues.
Waiting for the future
Cryonics is founded on the assumption of progress as stated in the Alcor Foundation description. Every time a person is preserved, an underlying assumption is made that the rapid evolution in technology to be witnessed over the coming several hundred years will provide for one’s fatal disease or causation of death a cure. (Lemler, 2010) With this, one can then conclude that reanimation may not be reasonably probable for generations. And if the future holds no success in reanimation, then thousands of patients will be suspended in liquid nitrogen assuming that the next hundred years and the next hundred years after that might develop the proper technology. Cryonicists have admitted that they simply do not know how long it will be until science and technology advances to the point when revival seems possible.
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References
Bakhach, J. (2009). The Cryopreservation of Composite Tissues. Organogenesis. Retrieved from
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2781091/
Lemler, J. (2010). Neuropreservation FAQ. Alcor life extension foundation: An introduction. Alcor Life Extension Foundation. Retrieved
http://www.alcor.org/Library/html/neuropreservationfaq.html
Wilson, B. (2002). The Case for Neuropreservation. Alcor Life Extension Foundation. Retrieved from
http://www.alcor.org/Library/html/caseforneuropreservation.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2781091/
Lemler, J. (2010). Neuropreservation FAQ. Alcor life extension foundation: An introduction. Alcor Life Extension Foundation. Retrieved
http://www.alcor.org/Library/html/neuropreservationfaq.html
Wilson, B. (2002). The Case for Neuropreservation. Alcor Life Extension Foundation. Retrieved from
http://www.alcor.org/Library/html/caseforneuropreservation.html
Writing 102 -04
Charmaine Ingreso