The bright light at the end of the tunnel, which many people describe on the verge of death, can be the result of the influx into the brain of serotonin, a neurotransmitter involved in mood regulation and the transmission of visual and auditory sensations, New Scientist.

This assumption was made by a group of scientists from the university medical complex "Charite" in Berlin under the leadership of Alexander WuZhler.

They gave six rats a lethal dose of anesthetic and recorded a three-fold increase in serotonin levels in their brains at the time of death. Wutzler expects to see the same increase in serotonin in the brain of a dying person.

Meanwhile, Jakob Hovi of the Monash University in Melbourne is not sure that the near-death experiences can be caused by serotonin. "One can not say one thing - is there a near-death experience in rats," he says.

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