X-Message-Number: 12357 From: Thomas Donaldson <> Subject: more on head transplants Date: Wed, 1 Sep 1999 23:14:10 +1000 (EST) About body transplants: First of all, the present situation in which a head cannot be wired to connect to a body may not last all that long. Repair of severed spinal cords has been the subject of many studies (cf many issues of PERIASTRON). Not only that, but recently 2 different methods were found to literally glue together cut axons, thus avoiding the normal long times in which healing of cut axons outside the brain occurs (cf last 2 issues of PERIASTRON). Second, by connecting the head of an older animal to a younger body, we may have a decisive experiment on the center of aging. There are lots of reasons to believe that aging goes with the brain, rather than with the body: ie even the bodily signs of aging result from hormones or lack of hormones coming from our BRAIN. One interesting experiment, the closest to a head transplant study of this kind yet done, transplanted pineal glands from old to young and vice versa. The pineal gland (which is in our brain) of an old animal aged the young animal quite rapidly; transplant of a young pineal gland to the aged animal caused an increase in health, vigor, and longevity of the aged animals. This operation actually worked much better than giving melatonin, a fact which needs to be followed up. A partial explanation also comes from work by another Russian researcher who has found that extracts of pineal gland also increase longevity, even if melatonin has been removed from them. Since such experiments deal with mice, there is no problem with immunity at all (the mouse strains used were virtually identical in terms of immune factors). A head transplant in mice, of course, might first require that we learn more surgical technique, since mice are small. Best wishes and long long life to all, Thomas Donaldson Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=12357