Most people think the body slows down as it dies, but a new study suggests a "storm" of brain activity in the last seconds of life that causes the heart to stop working.
The findings not only reveal secrets of the near-death experience, but could also help save the lives of cardiac patients, the University of Michigan Medical School reported.
"Despite the loss of consciousness and absence of signs of life, internally the brain exhibits sustained, organized activity and increased communication with the heart, which one may guess is an effort to save the heart," said senior study author Jimo Borjigin, Ph.D., associate professor of neurology and associate professor of molecular and integrative physiology.
To make their findings a team of researchers looked at both the heart and brains of rats during experimental asphyxiation. They found there was an immediate release of more than a dozen neurochemicals and an activation of brain-heart connectivity. They used a new technology, dubbed electrocardiomatrix, to watch the brain signals synch up with the heart rhythm, following a dramatic drop in heart rate.
The study showed blocking the brain's outflow delayed ventricular fibrillation, in which the lower chambers of the heart lose the ability to pump blood.
"The study suggests that a pharmacological blockade of the brain's electrical connections to the heart during cardiac arrest may improve the chances of survival in cardiac arrest patients," Borjigin said.
The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal PNAS Early Edition.
