Stem cells may survive beyond your clinical death

From a report published in Nature Communications and excerpted at Live Science:

Stem cells can remain alive in human corpses for at least 17 days after death... The researchers only had access to remains 17 days old, suggesting they have not yet seen the limits that stem cells can reach...

The cadavers in question had been kept at 39 degrees F (4 degrees C) to keep from rotting. The stem cells the researchers isolated give rise to skeletal muscle... Apparently the stem cells were able survive in the total absence of oxygen.

These stem cells in both dead mice and human corpses were dormant when discovered, with extraordinarily reduced metabolic activity, marking the first time scientists have found that stem cells were capable of such dormancy. The researchers suspect that chemicals given off after death, or the low levels of oxygen or nutrients in corpses, or a combination of all these factors, could have sent the stem cells into dormancy, helping them survive for weeks.

Via Neatorama.