A pig’s brain has been brought back to life, with functioning activity, nearly an hour after the animal had died. The eerie experiment aims to figure out how doctors can restore brain function to a patient who has suffered a sudden cardiac arrest.

Sudden cardiac arrest stops blood flow from reaching the brain, which can cause serious, irreparable damage within minutes. This is why the resuscitation window for a cardiac arrest is so short.

It is a problem known as ischemia, which means parts of the body aren’t getting enough blood flow.  Scientists from the Sun Yat-Sen University in China suggest their recent findings could provide a brief window for successful resuscitation of a patient who’s heart has failed.

Using 17 lab-raised Tibetan minipigs, the team found that pigs whose liver had not be subject to ischemia showed significantly less brain damage than the group that had.

Researchers then tried to incorporate an undamaged liver into the life support system of a brain that had been completely removed from a euthanised pig.

This life support system included an artificial heart and lungs to pump fluid through the brain. Again, when a pig’s liver was incorporated into the system, the brain was able to switch back on, and remain active for several hours.

The team connected brains to the liver-assisted system for intervals of 30, 50, 60 and 240 minutes. Intervals of 50 minutes showed the most promise, and kept the brain active for up to six hours.