Head Transplant HasBeen SuccessfullyDone On A Monkey –Scientist

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The scientist who claims to be about to carry
out the first human head transplant says that he
has successfully done the procedure on a
monkey. Maverick neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero
has tested

the procedure in experiments on
monkeys and human cadavers, he told New
Scientist. Dr Canavero says that the success
shows that his plan to transplant a human’s head
onto a donor body is in place. He says that the
procedure will be ready before the end of 2017
and could eventually become a way of treating
complete paralysis.
“I would say we have plenty of data to go on,”
Canavero told New Scientist. “It’s important that
people stop thinking this is impossible. This is
absolutely possible and we’re working towards
it.” The team behind the work has published
videos and images showing a monkey with a
transplanted head, as well as mice that are able
to move their legs after having their spinal cords
severed and then stuck back together.
Fusing the spinal cord of a person is going to be
key to successfully transplanting a human head
onto a donor body. The scientists claim that they
have been able to do so by cleanly cutting the
cord and using polyethylene glycol (PEG), which
can be used to preserve cell membranes and
helps the connection recover. The monkey head
transplant was carried out at Harbin Medical
University in China, according to Dr Canavero.
The monkey survived the procedure “without any
neurological injury of whatever kind,” the surgeon
said, but that it was killed 20 hours after the
procedure for ethical reasons.
It isn’t the first time that a successful transplant
has been carried out on a monkey. Head
transplant pioneer Robert J White successfully
carried out the procedure in 1970, on a monkey
that initially responded well but died after nine
days when the body rejected the head. The
newly-revealed success is likely to be an attempt
to help generate funds for the ultimate aim of
giving a head transplant to Valery Spriridonov,
the Russian patient who has been chosen to be
the first to undergo the procedure. Dr Canavero
has said that he will need a huge amount of
money to fund the team of surgeons and
scientists involved, and that he intends to ask
Mark Zuckerberg to help fund it.