Whole-body transplant

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A whole-body transplant, or brain transplant, moves the brain of one being into the body of another. It is a procedure distinct from head transplant, which involves transferring the entire head to a new body, as opposed to the brain only. The necessary technology currently does not exist to fully and safely perform this procedure.

Although many scientists would challenge the feasibility of this process, few would say that it is not eventually possible given current research into organ transplant and human cloning. Some bioethicists would argue that there are difficult moral problems involved in either harvesting a brain-dead body, especially one deliberately created using human cloning, or otherwise acquiring a body (say, of a criminal due to be executed for a crime, or an individual who is not dead but is soon to die of a brain-based illness).

Whole-body transplant is similar in some ways to the idea of downloading consciousness promoted by Marvin Minsky and others with a mechanistic view of natural intelligence and an optimistic outlook regarding artificial intelligence. It is also a goal of Raëlism, a small cult based in Florida, France, and Quebec. However, while 'transplanting' sees the ultimate goal as being a new body optimized for that brain by genetics, proteomics, and/or other medical proecures and a transfer of the brain to that body, in the almost equally speculative proceedure of 'downloading', the brain itself moves nowhere and may even be physically destroyed or discarded, but the goal is rather to make duplicates of the information patterns contained within the brain.

It has been pointed out that the age of a body that a brain could be transplanted into should be sufficient - the adult sized brain could only fit into the skull of a body post 9-12 years old as that is when the head reaches adult size.

Today, the procedure seems to be an unlikely if not impossible goal. However, other technologies, such as human cloning, seemed equally impossible a generation ago.

One of the most significant barriers to the procedure is the inability of nerve tissue to heal properly; scarred nerve tissue doesn't transmit signals well (this is the reason a spinal cord injury is so devastating). However, recent research at the Wistar Institute of the University of Pennsylvania involving tissue-regenerating mice may provide pointers for further research as to how to regenerate nerves without scarring.


[edit] Whole-body transplants in popular culture

Transplantation of a human brain from one body into another has appeared on occasion in popular literature.

  • The transplant has been a common subject in horror films, most notably Frankenstein.
  • The Ultra-Humanite, one of the main villains opposing the Golden Age Superman and Justice Society of America, often "died" at the end of an encounter, only to have his surviving brain transplanted into a new (not always human) body by robots and/or henchmen.

A similar procedure often found in science fiction is the transfer of one consciousness to another without moving the brain. This is found in many sources, most often a body swap between two characters on an ongoing television series; it occurs in the original Star Trek series twice, as well as Farscape, Stargate SG-1, and others. Since there is no movement of the brain(s), however, this is not the same.

Another similar literary theme, though different from either procedure described above, is the transplanting of a human brain into a mechanical, usually robotic, body. Examples of this include Robocop; the DC Comics superhero Robotman; full-body cyborgs in manga and anime series Ghost in the Shell; or the Cybermen from the Doctor Who television series. In the original Star Trek series, the episode "Spock's Brain" involves transplantation of the brain of the eponymous character into a large computer-like structure.

In the final level of Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel, players are given the choice to either use their brain as a replacement for the damaged vault computer or with General Barnaky's.

Also in "Doctor Who" the "Cybermen" take human brains and place them in a cybernetic body. The brain is the control over the body of metal.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[Dr. Robert J. White and head transplants]

Nanofiber Scaffold Supports Optic Nerve Regrowth [June 2006] (can be used to re-attach severed cranial nerves)

Organ Transplants Without Life on Medication [August 2006] (can be used instead of immunosuppressives, as the brain is no longer considered to be an immunologically privileged organ]

[Spinal Cord regeneration]

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