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on january 31, 2022, in bonn, germany, at the "brain" themed exhibition held at the german art and exhibition hall, artist jan fabre brought a marble sculpture titled "anthropology of the planet". (@visual china picture)

actress cheng pei-pei's last donation.

written by xu xinmeng

after the death of famous actress cheng pei-pei, her brain was quickly removed and stored in a human brain bank called brain support network (bsn) in san francisco, usa.

cheng pei-pei has starred in the movies "crouching tiger, hidden dragon" and "flirting scholar". in 2019, she was diagnosed with neurodegenerative atypical parkinson's syndrome. this is a rare disease with symptoms similar to parkinson's disease and cannot be cured by existing means. after careful consideration, cheng pei-pei signed a donation agreement and decided to leave her brain to bsn, which specializes in atypical parkinson's syndrome, after her death, hoping to make a contribution to the research of such diseases.

hundreds of brain banks like bsn have been built around the world. compared to warehouses, their operating model is closer to banks - volunteers like cheng pei-pei donate their brains to brain banks; scientists apply to brain banks to borrow human brain samples just like applying for bank loans; the "interest" generated in the end is the scientific community's new understanding of the working mechanism of the human brain, so as to better develop, protect and treat the brain.

the netherlands brain bank (nbb), first established in 1985, is one of the earliest human brain banks in the world. it has now become the human brain bank with the most complete brain sample types, the fastest brain collection speed, and the most detailed pre-mortem clinical data in the world.

there are more than 4,000 brains from the nbb "alive" in scientists' laboratories.

the brain's second life

the ancient greek natural philosopher alcmaeon believed that the brain is the seat of a person's thoughts and soul. dick swaab, the founder of the dutch brain bank, agrees with him. in his view, if a person's brain survives, it is roughly equivalent to extending his life.

"if we collect brain tissue in time after death, we can culture it in vitro and continue to observe signs of life, that is, 'life after death'," schwab wrote in "i am my brain." "at this time, the brain tissue still contains a lot of information, which provides us with a unique resource for studying brain function and revealing the causes of brain diseases."

previously, most brain science experiments were done on animals such as mice due to ethical and cost issues. however, differences in brain structure between humans and animals, the complexity of human diseases, and the diversity of clinical manifestations have affected the accuracy of these experimental results. for example, researchers later discovered some progenitor cells in human brain dissections that had never appeared in mouse or macaque brains, overturning many previous studies.

anatomical research on the human brain is urgent and difficult. swaber's main field is alzheimer's disease. in the 1970s, most of the approximately 100,000 alzheimer's patients in the netherlands died at home or in nursing homes without research qualifications. swaber searched hard and spent four years to collect the brains of five alzheimer's patients who could be studied.

april 17, 2023, durham, usa, scientists have improved the resolution of magnetic resonance imaging to 64 million times clearer than before to reveal microscopic details in brain tissue. (@visual china picture)

what is even more difficult is that in order to reveal the mechanism of disease, researchers also need to use healthy brains as references to gradually obtain clear research conclusions. this matching is very strict. the owners of the two brains must not only be consistent in age, gender, and time after death, but also in the cultural environment they lived in, the season of death, and even the specific time point. the more similar the better.

according to swaber's calculations, the number of normal samples required for control studies is at least four times that of diseased samples. in order to meet this demand, swaber formally established the dutch brain bank in 1985, hoping to store human brains in different conditions and provide complete brain tissue for scientific research.

more than just the fastest

schwaber was not the first researcher who wanted to obtain more brains for research. before him, the history of human brain research was shrouded in a thick shadow.

in order to satisfy their desire to explore the brain, early anatomists often resorted to illegal means to obtain brains. in the 18th century, british anatomist william hunter collected 76 specimens of brains, spinal cords, and meninges, all of which he obtained by robbing graves, bribing funeral homes, and seizing unclaimed corpses. in the 19th century, in order to link the clinical manifestations of mental patients with the pathological analysis of their brains, british neuroscientist clayton brown created the west riding lunatic asylum for scientific research. using these first-hand anatomical materials, brown laid the foundation for modern neuroscience, and also made the west riding lunatic asylum, which "enclosed the brain", famous in history, becoming the predecessor of the modern brain bank.

entering the 20th century, due to emotional, cultural, legal, and ethical considerations, human anatomy has been increasingly restricted, and the legitimacy of brain banks has become more difficult to be recognized by the world. in order to overcome these obstacles and to persuade more ordinary people to donate their brains, the dutch brain bank has established detailed ethical guidelines.

the dutch brain bank's "brain bank code of conduct" stipulates that all donors are anonymous, and the donor and his or her relatives must sign a written informed consent form. if the donor regrets before his or her death, he or she can revoke the donation at any time.

this guideline has become a benchmark for those who followed. all brain banks around the world have followed the example of the netherlands in formulating brain donation reservation standards and ethical guidelines, and 63% of brain banks strictly implement the standard of double consent of donors and next of kin.

in addition to ethical guidelines, the dutch brain bank also has an impeccable technical process.

the brain is mainly composed of soft tissue, which will dissolve spontaneously once a person dies. to ensure the quality of research, the sampling and preservation of human brain tissue should be completed within 12 hours. in this regard, the dutch brain bank is the fastest in the world.

the brain bank staff is on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. once they receive a notification from the donor's relatives and friends, they will set out immediately to transport the body to the laboratory of the free university of amsterdam to remove the brain within 6 hours. finally, the deceased's brain will be cut into about 70 pieces of brain tissue and frozen separately at -80℃.

throughout the entire process, researchers will always pay attention to the neatness of the deceased's body, and arrange trained autopsy assistants to repair the body after the end.

regarding the speed of transporting bodies to the dutch brain bank, bao aimin, a chinese student of swaber and a professor at the school of brain science and brain medicine of zhejiang university, once told a story. one night, the brain bank's special car was stopped by the traffic police while driving at high speed on the road. the traffic police asked angrily: "what are you transporting so fast?" the driver replied: "i am transporting a body." the traffic police was very surprised. there was no living person who needed to be rescued, so why was he driving fast? the driver explained that he wanted to send the body to the dutch brain bank to get the brain and complete the last gift of life. this reason convinced the traffic police to let him go and allowed him to continue driving fast at night.

schwaber believes that only when the brain bank is professional enough can donors feel relieved. "no matter what stupid things i said or did because i didn't use my brain properly during my lifetime, at least after i die, my brain will be used properly by the dutch brain bank."