Cardiac Memory Significance: Transferring Traits Through Heart Transplant Donations

April is National Donate Life Month, an annual observance to raise awareness about the importance of organ, eye, and tissue donation, and to honor the generosity of donors and their families who have given the gift of life to others. Throughout the month, various events, campaigns, and activities are organized to educate the public about the donation process, promote registration on state donor registries, and recognize the lives saved and improved through donation, with the ultimate goal of increasing the number of registered donors and reducing the waitlist for transplants.

Heart Transplant Surgery

Heart transplants are a type of surgery one gets if their heart is failing. Heart failure is defined as the heart no longer being able to pump oxygen and nutrients to the rest of the body. If no other treatment works, heart transplant surgery is usually recommended as a last resort. In this situation, the failing hearts get replaced with a healthier one that has been donated.

Heart failure tends to happen with increased age and is the leading cause of hospitalizations for patients over age 65. It can arise from a plethora of reasons, including heart valve disease, congenital heart defects, heart muscle weakening (i.e., cardiomyopathy), unhealthy eating habits, and the like. Chronic stress can also contribute to heart failure, as it elevates our hormone levels of cortisol and adrenaline. Experiencing high rates of these hormones due to stress can eventually lead to the aforementioned physical health conditions, thus resulting in heart failure.

Aside from the physiological struggles, deciding to become a heart transplant recipient can be quite a challenging decision, especially when considering how the recipient’s body needs to be a match for the heart being transplanted. This surgery runs the risk of the body rejecting the new heart or seeing it as a foreign substance, which can lead to further complications. It may also take a while for one to receive a new heart, as there often is a long waitlist. Waiting such a long time can lead to more health deterioration, which can further impede the surgery’s success. If the surgery goes well, the recipient will then need medical care for the rest of their lives to prevent future issues and possible rejections.

Despite its complications, adult survival rates have gotten quite high, with as many as 90% surviving the first year and 80% surviving after five years. Compared to rates in the infancy of heart transplant surgery, modern medicine has come a long way, primarily through the introduction of immunosuppressants and tests being able to better check the compatibility between the donor and the recipient. Historically speaking, the first successful heart transplant surgery was performed by Dr. Christiaan Barnard in South Africa in 1967. Even though this was a monumental event, patients only survived for 18 days. However, due to the development and integration of cyclosporine, an immunosuppressant, rates of donor rejection declined, allowing for more successful surgeries and higher rates of longevity.

Cellular Memory: How Surgery Leads to the Transfer of Memories

After surgery, scientists are noticing one surprising trait being transferred to the recipients: the memories of the donor! In many cases, patients have reported retaining memories from the donor, such as recurrent dreams of an event they never experienced or starting expressing personality traits or preferences they did not before, such as an affinity for a new food they never had. To categorize these personality transfers, researchers have separated them as the following: preference changes, emotional/temperament alterations, and identity modifications that somehow mirror those of the donor.

Scientists are predicting this occurrence is an example of cellular memory, where the cells from the donated heart are being mixed with the cells of the recipient. Simply put, the donor’s DNA, RNA, or neuronal networks from their heart are being transferred to the recipient, meaning the heart retains memories.

Such an event goes against what the scientific community believed, as they initially thought that this transfer would not be possible. They presumed that the heart was “just a pump” and did not possess the qualities necessary to transfer personality traits, let alone memories. However, with new patient testimonials of their post-surgery experiences, scientists are now slowly changing their minds about this relationship, which underscores how little we know about heart health and memory.

Heart Transplant Case Studies

One popular case study of cellular memory is the story of Claire Sylvia. In 1988, Sylvia received a heart-lung transplant from an 18-year-old donor. After the surgery, Sylvia found herself craving beer, despite never liking beer before. She also started to long for green peppers, which she previously despised, as well as chicken nuggets. Apart from her food preferences, she also started to walk in a lumbering stride. Her personality shifted as well; she became more assertive, felt less lonely, and searched for speed and action.

After recognizing these new changes, Sylvia had a dream of a man named Tim L. In her dream, Sylvia and Tim kissed, and she inhaled him inside of her, feeling as if he would forever be a part of her. Such experiences led Sylvia to find her donor’s name in the local obituary, which was Tim Lamirande. This revelation enabled Sylvia to get into contact with Lamirande’s family. There, she found out that Lamirande died from a motorcycle crash and that he loved green peppers and chicken nuggets.

Researchers and physicians are starting to acknowledge how these experiences, although rare, still exist. For that reason, these findings led psychiatrist Mitchell Liester to investigate and document this relationship between heart surgery and the transfer of memories. In one of the many stories Liester encountered, he reported the story of a five-year-old boy who was asked to explain what he thought of his donor. Here, the boy said how his donor was half his age, liked Power Rangers, and got hurt when he fell down. This surprised Liester, as no one was told the age of the donor nor how he died. It was later disclosed that the donor was a three-year-old boy who died from falling from a windowsill, trying to retrieve his Power Ranger that was stuck on the window ledge.

Cardiovascular and Memory Research Relationship

Researchers hypothesize this connection exists because the heart does have neuronal cells that are akin to the ones in the brain. This means the heart has its own intrinsic cardiac nervous system that can function semi-independently from the brain. Such a finding has led scientists to call this nervous system the heart’s “little brain.” This fascinating discovery is still being investigated today as to how the heart uses its 40,000 neurons for memory transfer and what this means for donations.

Overall, these findings showcase the powerful robustness of the human body, namely the heart, in its ability to retain memories. As we uncover more information about this connection between brain and heart health, it is important to be aware of this link and consult with your provider if you or your loved one is contemplating heart surgery. This is especially prevalent as rates of heart transplant surgery are very rare, with limited donor availability and rates of rejection. Consequently, researchers will not always have the adequate number of participants to test this relationship on.

In 2020, under 8,200 transplants were performed globally, with the US being in the lead. Such data underscores how uncommon this surgery truly is across the world. We should be concerned with this, as heart failure is on the rise. Scientists predict that, by 2030, 8.5 million Americans will be impacted by this disease and that one in four individuals are estimated to develop heart failure in their lifetimes. Therefore, if no mediation or awareness is brought on to this staggering data, we are in danger of our heart health declining over time.

Sources: