When Is the Brain Dead? Living-Like Electrophysiological Responses and Photon Emissions from Applications of Neurotransmitters in Fixed Post-Mortem Human Brains

The structure of the post-mortem human brain can be preserved by immersing the organ within a fixative solution. Once the brain is perfused, cellular and histological features are maintained over extended periods of time. However, functions of the human brain are not assumed to be preserved beyond death and subsequent chemical fixation. Here we present a series of experiments which, together, refute this assumption. Instead, we suggest that chemical preservation of brain structure results in some retained functional capacity. Patterns similar to the living condition were elicited by chemical and electrical probes within coronal and sagittal sections of human temporal lobe structures that had been maintained in ethanol-formalin-acetic acid. This was inferred by a reliable modulation of frequency-dependent microvolt fluctuations. These weak microvolt fluctuations were enhanced by receptor-specific agonists and their precursors (i.e., nicotine, 5-HTP, and L-glutamic acid) as well as attenuated by receptor-antagonists (i.e., ketamine). Surface injections of 10 nM nicotine enhanced theta power within the right parahippocampal gyrus without any effect upon the ipsilateral hippocampus. Glutamate-induced high-frequency power densities within the left parahippocampal gyrus were correlated with increased photon counts over the surface of the tissue. Heschl’s gyrus, a transverse convexity on which the primary auditory cortex is tonotopically represented, retained frequency-discrimination capacities in response to sweeps of weak (2μV) square-wave electrical pulses between 20 Hz and 20 kHz. Together, these results suggest that portions of the post-mortem human brain may retain latent capacities to respond with potential life-like and virtual properties.