Animal Models Go Just So Far
Brain donation provides an invaluable, irreplaceable resource toward deeper understanding of human diseases of the central nervous system. No animal model is as good as actual human brain tissue. Alzheimer’s disease is a disease of that is observed in laboratory animals, but while the pathological findings are useful, there is no replacement for a clinical history accounting the details of cognitive decline. Moreover, the composition “plaques” and “tangles of the human brain are quite different from those seen in other species, and occur in different parts of the brain.

Brain Cells Die Rapidly
The brain is not a transplant organ. Donor networks handle skin for grafting, kidney and even heart, each of which can be maintained in a cooled, hypo metabolic state. Conversely, the fragile human brain looses many cells as soon as the person dies, almost like a chain reaction. Thus, arrangements for removal and transport must be in place prior to death. Signing the back of your motor vehicle license in the presence of a single witness for organ donation is NOT the same thing as donating your brain. You need to make arrangements in advance to assure that your brain will go to where you wish during the precious, small window of time when it will be most useful.