A Chinese operating surgeon who has performed about a thousand head transplant on mouse want to test the subroutine on monkey . Dr. Xiaoping Ren skip his research could one day be used on human patients , but critics have dismissed the discipline as “ ridiculous . ”
The Wall Street Journal(WSJ ) , who play along Ren during the 10 hour operation , reported that after the computer mouse received its new head , it was able-bodied to move and open its eyes , but died shortly after . Ren has been performing the subprogram since 2013 , testing different techniques to help the mice outlive longer than their current record — one day . Ren told the WSJ that he hopes a scalawag receiving the transplantation could “ last and respire on its own , at least for a little while . ”
Ren and his team connected the conferrer and recipient circulatory systems using petite tubes to allow oxygenated blood to flow from the gnawer ' brainpower to their new organic structure . The primate surgery would be far more complex , however , where researchers would be attempting to sequester belittled amount of money of the monkeys ' spinal nerve fibers . According toWired UK , this may not be the first clip a monkey headspring transplant has been on the table . Robert J. Whitereportedlyhad his finger almost bitten off when he was able to successfully transplant one scallywag ’s head onto another ’s body .
Despite the name , a school principal transplant should probably be described as a ‘ torso transplant ’ as it ’s the head receiving a new presenter physical structure . Some researchers , incuding Ren , suggest these transplantation surgeries could revolutionize forward-looking medicine as bodies damaged by disease or hurt could be replaced , allowing the donors to live sound and more fulfilling living . But even if the procedure becomes technically viable , whether or not patient would be able to whelm the psychological core of living in someone else ’s consistency is a serious proceeds that must be look at .
“ We want to do this clinically , but we have to make an fauna model with retentive - terminus endurance first,”Rentold the WSJ . “ Currently , I am not convinced to say that I can do a human transplant . ”
For the time being , there ’s believably no pauperism to suffer your head over this research , with bioethics professor Arthur Caplan , fromNew York University , telling the WSJ : “ The whole idea is silly . ” Critics also call into question whether animals should be used in this type of inquiry . It ’s unlikely the procedure will be tested in the U.S. or U.K. anytime soon , which probably contribute to Ren ’s conclusion to move his research from the University of Cincinnati in Ohio to China ’s Harbin Medical University .
There are a turn of challenges Ren will have to overpower , such as keeping the mentality oxygenated for long period of prison term and forbid the resistant system from turn down the new head . Earlier this class , Italian neurosurgeon Sergio Canaveroannouncedhis plans to complete the first human head transplant within two years , but many scientists remain skeptical of the likeliness of these procedures becoming successful or sound in the near future .
