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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). Today, moving an entire brain to another body seems to be an unlikely if not impossible goal. However, other technologies, such as Human Cloning , seemed equally impossible a generation ago. EXISTING CHALLENGES 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. Also, for the procedure to be practical, the age of the donated body must be sufficient — an adult-sized brain could only fit into the skull of a body at least nine to twelve years old, as that is when the head reaches adult size. PARTIAL BRAIN TRANSPLANT An arguably more reasonable scenario is a partial brain transplant involving only enough tissue to provide key memories and a sense of continuity of identity. A fairly large but indeterminate amount of the brain is devoted to processing and controlling sensory, motor, and autonomic functions such as vision, olfaction, movement, appetite, etc.; if the goal is to move memories and/or identity from one body to another then these portions of the brain are likely both difficult and unnecessary to transplant. The recipient body of such a transplant probably would have to possess a naive and never-conscious brain or partial brain, such as in a never-conscious Cloned Soma . This possibility provides the basis for ''I of Persistence'', a human life-extension manifesto and science fiction story1. One particularly innovative aspect of this story is the concept that the older transplanted brain tissue is eventually removed and replaced with youthful tissue, restoring complete youthfulness, but providing continuity (or persistence) of conscious identity. In 1982 Dr. Dorothy T. Krieger, chief of endocrinology at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City, achieved notable success with a partial brain transplant in mice. ''"Transplant Success Reported With Part of a Mouse's Brain", 'New York Times', June 18, 1982'' A partial brain transplant would accomplish essentially the same goal — movement of a person's "identity" from one body to another — and thus qualify as a whole-body transplant no less than a full brain transplant. As Dr. Krieger demonstrated, barriers to accomplishing this feat might be much lower than transplantation of the entire brain. WHOLE-BODY TRANSPLANTS IN POPULAR CULTURE Transplantation of a human brain from one body into another has appeared on occasion in popular literature. The intended effect is most often either horrific or comedic.
SIMILAR CONCEPTS The whole-body transplant is just one of several means of putting a consciousness into a new body that have been explored by both scientists and writers. 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 of an ongoing television series; it occurs in the original '' Star Trek '' series twice, as well as '' Farscape '', '' Stargate SG-1 '', '' Buffy The Vampire Slayer '', and many others. Since there is no movement of the brain(s), however, this is not quite the same as a whole-body transplant. Similar in many ways to this is the idea of Mind Uploading , 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 procedures and a transfer of the brain to that body, in the almost equally speculative procedure of 'downloading', the brain itself moves nowhere and may even be physically destroyed or discarded; the goal is rather to duplicate the information patterns contained within the brain. 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 '' Star Trek '', the episode " Spock's Brain " involves transplantation of the eponymous organ into a large computer-like structure, and in " I, Mudd " Uhura is offered immortality in an android body. SEE ALSO
REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS Robert J. White and head transplants
Nanofiber Scaffold Supports Optic Nerve Regrowth 2006 (can be used to re-attach severed cranial nerves)
Organ Transplants Without Life on Medication 2006 (can be used instead of immunosuppressives, as the brain is no longer considered to be an immunologically privileged organ]
Cord regeneration
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