The heart wants what the heart wants…regardless of whose heart is beating.
A recent study found an additional correlation between organ transplant surgery and personality changes.
In a study published in transplantologyResearchers at the University of Colorado asked 47 participants (23 heart recipients and 24 other organ recipients) to fill out an online survey detailing their experiences after transplant surgery. An astonishing 89% of all transplant recipients, regardless of the organ they received, reported a change in personality after surgery.
The CU study is one of the first to track personality changes that occur after countless organ transplants.
Previous research has tended to focus on the after-effects and anecdotes of heart transplant patients who have had extreme and lasting experiences. science alert After heart transplant surgery, some patients report feeling more like their donor than themselves and developing new preferences in food, art, sex, and behavioral patterns, they wrote.
One transplant recipient recalled developing a deep love of music after receiving the heart of a young musician in the 1990s. She told the scientists: “Before, I couldn't play, but after the transplant, I started liking music. I felt it in my heart.”
However, recent CU research shows that our egos and preferences are very likely contained in every cell of our bodies, not just our hearts.
Respondents to the CU survey reported four or more personality changes regarding temperament, emotions, food, identity, religious/spiritual beliefs, and/or memory. The only changes that differed between heart recipients and other organ recipients were changes in physical attributes.
The study's researchers concluded, “The similarities between the two groups suggest that heart transplant recipients are not unique in experiencing post-transplant personality changes, and that such changes can occur after transplantation of any organ.'' “It suggests that there is a sex.”
Last year, the Post reported that people who received blood transfusions also reported changes in mood, behavior and even memory after the procedure.
These changes seem to defy scientific explanation.
2013 University of Michigan study They found that “there is a deep-seated belief that internal parts of an individual have a causal relationship, and when they are mixed, the recipient may take on some of the donor's characteristics.”
Sarah Jane Leslie, a professor of philosophy at Princeton University and one of the study's co-authors, said: stated in a statement At the time, he said, “People still believe that transplants can change personalities, even if science doesn't support that possibility.”
still, science alert We providewhole body memory hypothesisAs a possible explanation. This hypothesis suggests that all living cells contain memory, meaning that history can be passed down through tissues from donor to recipient.
Although nerve connections in transplanted organs are severed, evidence suggests that nerves may still function within the organ and that nerve connections may be at least partially restored within a year after surgery. There is. therefore, Neurotransmitter interactions Based on the donor's memory, it can cause a physiological response in the recipient's nervous system and influence its personality. ”
Additionally, donor cells are known to circulate within the recipient. 2 years after transplantation. According to science alertIt's unclear where those cells go, but their inflammatory effects may explain personality changes. cause inflammationchronic low-grade inflammation persists. shown to change personality traits”
No word yet on whether pig organ transplants will cause patients to behave arrogantly.
.
