It should be easy to find out if a braincell is dead or dormant. One more offensive method is an Autopsy. I think it should be relativly easy to tell the metabolic state of cells. I also think some indirect methods should reveal the state, such as scans, chemical analysis, electrical measurements. Indeed I suspect that there is material in the literature (Janet, you are good at this), that should have some analysis on this. K-F Etzold