X-Message-Number: 17001
Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2001 21:29:43 -0700
From: Mike Perry <>
Subject: Brains liquefy?

>From: Thomas Donaldson <>
>Subject: CryoNet #16980 - #16989
>
>A short comment for Mike Perry:
>
>No, brains do not liquefy shortly after death. Or even some time after
>death.

Well, "short" is a relative term and I should have been clearer as to what 
actual time frame I had in mind. Partly I wasn't sure myself, but let's say 
"short on the scale of several weeks or more," which would apply to the 
Kostadinova case in Australia. A mortician my organization (Alcor) works 
with did indeed tell me, about two years ago, that the brain will liquefy 
if not treated. Not in the sense of just melting I'm sure, but still in the 
sense of entering a liquefied state. Of course, eventually decomposition 
will reduce it to essentially nothing, regardless of what states it passes 
through in the meantime, which in turn are not really important. I don't 
mean to sound overly pessimistic. Up to 30 hours postmortem, maybe more, 
the largely untreated brain can *apparently* show good structure and good 
perfusing capability, as has occurred at Alcor (see the 4th quarter 2000 
*Cryonics*, p.11, referring to the suspension of FM-2030). But I am not too 
hopeful about cases where the body has been in the (warm) ground for many days.

Mike Perry

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