Read between the lines.
Imagine what else it could be and mean in the context you already know - not in the context it is put with.
Brain was taken from body?
how about:
he lost his mind, padded cell, going crazy, flipping, out of order, out of normal, no regular status, OUTRAGED, zero control, no master of actions, depending on outside orders, cannot move for the time being, fixed
They cut it into pieces for samples?
how about:
somebody caused this, hashed, chopped, made little, chop means also strike, hit, move, create, sample also means try, try out, taste, sb tried to look inside and find out by rough means, a cut is done by a knife / scalpell so some thing not living, a cut in his life, a break, a portion of something, a part, not the whole, something little, something particular, something to put under a microscope for investigation, learning, knowledge, viewing another world of tiny yet important things, not the head counts but the heart...
in example...