Heart transplant patients may have received more than just an organ. Several studies traced by IFLScience, Wednesday December 11, 2024, relayed by Slate look at the reasons which could have led those who received a heart transplant to also inherit the tastes, even memories, initially belonging to their donor. Several hypotheses have been formulated.
Notable transformations
“Emerging evidence suggests that heart transplantation may involve the transfer of personality traits and memories from donor to recipient, challenging traditional conceptions of memory and identity”wrote Saudi medical researchers in a study published in April 2024 in the medical journal Cureus. Science has in fact reported several cases of patients who may have seen their preferences in terms of food or music, or even their sexual orientation, change after a heart transplant. However, these changes would strangely follow the preferences of the donor.
A study published in March 2002 in the scientific journal Journal of Near-Death Studies, for example, mentions the case of a dancer who had never eaten chicken nuggets, and who claimed to have felt an uncontrollable desire to eat them at his release from the hospital. His donor loved the food so much that nuggets were found in his jacket when he died.
Another case goes even further and shows that a certain memory could be transmitted. A patient who received a transplant may have developed a phobia of water after his operation. However, it appeared that the man whose heart he had received had been a victim of drowning.
Cardiac memory or emotional stress?
So how can we explain this phenomenon? Four hypotheses were invoked. The first suggests the possibility that non-neuronal cells or networks of cells could also store memories. The second proposes that a transplant can lead to epigenetic modifications, that is to say a modification of gene expression. A third talks about interactions linked to the electromagnetic field of the transplanted heart. Finally, a final hypothesis estimates that a complex neuronal network present in the heart and responsible for regulating the heart rate could in reality play the role of “little brain”.
“The neural network of the heart and its two-way communication with the brain supports the idea of a heart-brain connection in memory and personality”also added the scientists. There remains one last hypothesis: that of a psychological effect. The physical and mental stress generated by the operation could therefore lead to feelings that are simply perceived as « souvenirs » of the donor.
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