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Does the brain need a heart to live?

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Yes, it's possible. That dog head experiment was real even if that video was fake. It was done in 1929 by the Russians Brukhonenko and Tchetchuline if you want to look it up. The head survived for a few hours.

We currently can keep people alive for years without a heart, but not without a body. It is within our abilities but obviously unethical.
 
Originally posted by: randay
ron popeil has already invented the technology to keep human heads alive in jars.
Click to expand...

And they stay incredibly sharp plus you can clean them with a quick and simple rinse . . . but wait . . . if you order within the next 15 minutes we'll throw in the pocket kidney!
 
You'd also need to ensure that the kidneys are involved as they have some role in blood flow, they filter the blood I think... I'm no doctor. Also the cervalspinal fluid and whatever takes care of producing it would need to exist in the setup. Probably a few other factors that need to be taken care of.

I don't think it's ethical to play at that level though, especially not on animals.
 
No, it doesn't.

During open heart surgery or heart replacement surgery the brain functions, although not fully conscience.

After the successful implant of a totally artificial heart, the brain continues to function just fine.
Maybe you didn't take more than 30 second to think this one through? 😉
 
Originally posted by: SampSon
No, it doesn't.

During open heart surgery or heart replacement surgery the brain functions, although not fully conscience.

After the successful implant of a totally artificial heart, the brain continues to function just fine.
Maybe you didn't take more than 30 second to think this one through? 😉
Click to expand...

I think the question was a bit more involved than that. The OP was asking about a decapitated head which in my mind meant that there were no organs outside the head in use. Can someone survive with an artificial heart? Sure. Without a variety of the other organs? Nope.
 
Ya, why wouldn't it? You just need to supply all the oxygen, nutrients, hormones, and anything else it would normally use.
 
With a little tweaking, you get a heart/lung machine to sustain a decapitated head. The hard part is getting the machine down into a basement.
 
I would think (among the rest of the working parts that people die without) that you would need a spinal cord?
 
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