Personality changes associated with organ transplant surgery

The heart wants what the heart wants…regardless of whose chest it beats within.

Recent research has found further correlation between organ transplant surgery and personality changes.

In a study published in Transplantology, researchers at the University of Colorado (CU) had 47 participants (23 heart recipients and 24 other organ recipients) complete an online survey detailing their experiences after transplant surgery. A staggering 89% of all transplant recipients reported postop personality changes, regardless of the organ they received.

The CU study is among the first to track personality changes that occur after myriad types of organ transplants.

Previous research has tended to focus on the after-effects and anecdotes of heart transplant patients whose experiences edge toward the extreme and the enduring. Science Alert writes that following heart transplant surgery some patients report feeling more like their donor than themselves, developing new preferences for food, art, sex, and behavior patterns.

One transplant recipient recalled developing a deep love for music after receiving the heart of a young musician in the 1990s. She told scientists, “I could never play before, but after my transplant, I began to love music. I felt it in my heart.”

But, the recent CU study indicates that our selfhood and preferences may very well be contained in every cell of the body, not just the heart.

Respondents to the CU survey reported four or more personality changes relative to temperament, emotions, food, identity, religious/spiritual beliefs, and/or memories. The only change that differed between heart and other organ recipients was a change in physical attributes.

Researchers from the study maintain, “The similarities between the two groups suggest heart transplant recipients may not be unique in their experience of personality changes following transplantation, but instead such changes may occur following the transplantation of any organ.” 

Last year, The Post reported that blood transfusion recipients also reported changes in their mood, behavior, and even memories after the procedure.

These changes seem to defy a scientific explanation.

A 2013 University of Michigan study found that “there’s a persistent belief that individuals’ internal parts have causal powers, and so — if they are mixed — can make a recipient 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 in a statement at the time, “Even though science doesn’t support the possibility, people still believe that transplants can result in personality changes.”

Yet, Science Alert offers the ‘systemic memory hypothesis‘ as a possible explanation. This hypothesis suggests that all living cells contain memory, meaning that history can be passed from donor to transplant via tissue.

Though the nerve connections in a transplanted organ are severed, nerves may still function within the organ, with evidence suggesting nerve connection may be at least partially restored within a year of surgery. Thus, neurotransmitter interactions based on donor memories might cause a physiological response to the recipient’s nervous system that impacts their personality.”

Further, donor cells have been found to circulate in recipients as many as two years post-transplant. According to Science Alert, it is unclear where those cells go but their inflammatory effects could explain personality changes, “The DNA, once escaped from cells, does appear to trigger inflammation, and chronic, low-grade inflammation has been shown to alter personality traits.”

No word yet on whether the effects of swine organ transplantation lead patients to behave piggishly.

.