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Coliță CI, Olaru DG, Coliță D, Hermann DM, Coliță E, Glavan D, Popa-Wagner A. Induced Coma, Death, and Organ Transplantation: A Physiologic, Genetic, and Theological Perspective. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:ijms24065744. [PMID: 36982814 PMCID: PMC10059721 DOI: 10.3390/ijms24065744] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2023] [Revised: 03/13/2023] [Accepted: 03/15/2023] [Indexed: 03/19/2023] Open
Abstract
In the clinic, the death certificate is issued if brain electrical activity is no longer detectable. However, recent research has shown that in model organisms and humans, gene activity continues for at least 96 h postmortem. The discovery that many genes are still working up to 48 h after death questions our definition of death and has implications for organ transplants and forensics. If genes can be active up to 48 h after death, is the person technically still alive at that point? We discovered a very interesting parallel between genes that were upregulated in the brain after death and genes upregulated in the brains that were subjected to medically-induced coma, including transcripts involved in neurotransmission, proteasomal degradation, apoptosis, inflammation, and most interestingly, cancer. Since these genes are involved in cellular proliferation, their activation after death could represent the cellular reaction to escape mortality and raises the question of organ viability and genetics used for transplantation after death. One factor limiting the organ availability for transplantation is religious belief. However, more recently, organ donation for the benefit of humans in need has been seen as “posthumous giving of organs and tissues can be a manifestation of love spreading also to the other side of death”.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cezar-Ivan Coliță
- Doctoral School, University of Medicine and Pharmacy Carol Davila, 020276 Bucharest, Romania; (C.-I.C.)
| | - Denissa-Greta Olaru
- Department of Psychiatry, University for Medicine and Pharmacy Craiova, 200349 Craiova, Romania;
| | - Daniela Coliță
- Doctoral School, University of Medicine and Pharmacy Carol Davila, 020276 Bucharest, Romania; (C.-I.C.)
| | - Dirk M. Hermann
- Chair of Vascular Neurology, Dementia and Ageing, Department of Neurology, University Hospital Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany
| | - Eugen Coliță
- Doctoral School, University of Medicine and Pharmacy Carol Davila, 020276 Bucharest, Romania; (C.-I.C.)
| | - Daniela Glavan
- Department of Psychiatry, University for Medicine and Pharmacy Craiova, 200349 Craiova, Romania;
- Correspondence: (D.G.); (A.P.-W.)
| | - Aurel Popa-Wagner
- Department of Psychiatry, University for Medicine and Pharmacy Craiova, 200349 Craiova, Romania;
- Chair of Vascular Neurology, Dementia and Ageing, Department of Neurology, University Hospital Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany
- Correspondence: (D.G.); (A.P.-W.)
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Peinkhofer C, Martial C, Cassol H, Laureys S, Kondziella D. The evolutionary origin of near-death experiences: a systematic investigation. Brain Commun 2021; 3:fcab132. [PMID: 34240053 PMCID: PMC8260963 DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcab132] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2021] [Revised: 04/18/2021] [Accepted: 05/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Near-death experiences are known from all parts of the world, various times and
numerous cultural backgrounds. This universality suggests that near-death
experiences may have a biological origin and purpose. Adhering to a
preregistered protocol, we investigate the hypothesis that thanatosis, aka
death-feigning, a last-resort defense mechanism in animals, is the evolutionary
origin of near-death experiences. We first show that thanatosis is a highly
preserved survival strategy occurring at all major nodes in a cladogram ranging
from insects to humans. We then show that humans under attack by animal, human
and ‘modern’ predators can experience both thanatosis and
near-death experiences, and we further show that the phenomenology and the
effects of the two overlap. In summary, we build a line of evidence suggesting
that thanatosis is the evolutionary foundation of near-death experiences and
that their shared biological purpose is the benefit of survival. We propose that
the acquisition of language enabled humans to transform these events from
relatively stereotyped death-feigning under predatory attacks into the rich
perceptions that form near-death experiences and extend to non-predatory
situations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Costanza Peinkhofer
- Department of Neurology, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen 2100, Denmark
| | - Charlotte Martial
- Coma Science Group, GIGA-Consciousness, University of Liège, Liège 4000, Belgium
| | - Helena Cassol
- Coma Science Group, GIGA-Consciousness, University of Liège, Liège 4000, Belgium
| | - Steven Laureys
- Coma Science Group, GIGA-Consciousness, University of Liège, Liège 4000, Belgium
| | - Daniel Kondziella
- Department of Neurology, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen 2100, Denmark
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Clinique des expériences de mort imminente : du vécu agonistique aux formes extrêmes de symbolisation. EVOLUTION PSYCHIATRIQUE 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evopsy.2020.04.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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Nourkova VV. Compressed Life Review: Extreme Manifestation of Autobiographical Memory in Eye-Tracker. Behav Sci (Basel) 2020; 10:E60. [PMID: 32110854 PMCID: PMC7139868 DOI: 10.3390/bs10030060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2020] [Revised: 02/03/2020] [Accepted: 02/21/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The compressed life review (CLR) is a mnemonic illusion of having "your entire life flashing before your eyes". This research was guided by concerns over the retrospective methodology used in CLR studies. To depart from this methodology, I considered the long-term working memory (WM), "concentric", and "activation-based" models of memory. A novel theoretically rooted laboratory-based experimental technique aimed to elicit the CLR-like experience with no risk to healthy participants was developed. It consists of listening to superimposed audio recordings of previously trained verbal cues to an individually composed set of self-defining memories (SDMs). The technique evoked a self-reported CLR-like experience in 10 out of 20 participants. A significant similarity in eye movement patterns between a single SDM condition and a choir of SDM conditions in self-reported CLR experiencers was confirmed. In both conditions, stimuli caused relative visual immobilization, in contrast to listening to a single neutral phrase, and a choir of neutral phrases that led to active visual exploration. The data suggest that CLR-like phenomenology may be successfully induced by triggering short-term access to the verbally cued SDMs and may be associated with specific patterns of visual activity that are not reportedly involved with deliberate autobiographical retrieval.
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Affiliation(s)
- Veronika V Nourkova
- Department of psychology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow 125009, Russia
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Peinkhofer C, Dreier JP, Kondziella D. Semiology and Mechanisms of Near-Death Experiences. Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep 2019; 19:62. [PMID: 31352520 DOI: 10.1007/s11910-019-0983-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW Near-death experiences (NDEs) are conscious perceptual experiences, including self-related emotional, spiritual, and mystical experiences, occurring in close encounters with death or in non-life-threatening situations. The origin of NDEs remains unknown. Here, we review recent advances in the understanding of NDE semiology and pathophysiology. RECENT FINDINGS Recent prospective studies confirm that NDEs reflect a spectrum of highly distinctive memories which are associated with negative or positive emotions and can be influenced by the nature of the causal event, but the temporal sequence with which these images unfold is variable. Some drugs, notably ketamine, may lead to experiences that are similar or even identical to NDEs. New models extend previous neural network theories and include aspects of evolutionary and quantum theories. Although the factual existence of NDEs is no longer doubted and the semiology well-described, a pathophysiological model that includes all aspects of NDEs is still lacking.
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Affiliation(s)
- Costanza Peinkhofer
- Department of Neurology, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark.,Medical Faculty, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy
| | - Jens P Dreier
- Center for Stroke Research Berlin, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany.,Department of Neurology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany.,Department of Experimental Neurology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany.,Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Einstein Center for Neurosciences Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Daniel Kondziella
- Department of Neurology, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark. .,Department of Neuroscience, Norwegian University of Technology and Science, Trondheim, Norway. .,Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Copenhagen University, Copenhagen, Denmark.
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