Artificially triggered hibernation

[ursaminortaur]

Scientists have discovered how to artificially trigger hibernation using ultrasonic pulses and have done so in rats which don't naturally hibernate. This raises the hope of being able to also do this in humans. Such hibernation in humans, if it could be maintained for long periods, would be useful for long term space missions and, even if it could only be maintained for a short period, could by slowing down the metabolism expand the time available to perform emergency medical treatments.


https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/may/25/hibernation-artificially-triggered-in-potential-space-travel-breakthrough

In science fiction, space crews are often spared the boredom and inconvenience of long-distance space travel by being placed into a state of suspended animation. Now this goal may have come a step closer after scientists showed that hibernation can be artificially triggered in rodents using ultrasonic pulses.

The advance is seen as significant because the technique was effective in rats – animals that do not naturally hibernate. This raises the prospect that humans may also retain a vestigial hibernation circuit in the brain that could be artificially reactivated.

“If this proves feasible in humans, we could envision astronauts wearing a helmet-like device designed to target the hypothalamus region for inducing a hypothermia and hypometabolism state,” said Hong Chen, an associate professor at Washington University in St Louis, who led the work.
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In humans, inducing a torpor-like state has potential medical applications, with some suggesting that slowing down metabolism could buy critical time for treating life-threatening conditions such as heart attack and stroke. “By extending the window for medical intervention, this technique offers promising prospects for improving patients’ chances of survival,” said Chen. “Additionally, the non-invasive nature of the technique opens the possibility of developing wearable ultrasound devices, such as helmets, for easy access in emergency situations.”

[stevensfo]

Scientists have discovered how to artificially trigger hibernation using ultrasonic pulses and have done so in rats which don't naturally hibernate. This raises the hope of being able to also do this in humans. Such hibernation in humans, if it could be maintained for long periods, would be useful for long term space missions and, even if it could only be maintained for a short period, could by slowing down the metabolism expand the time available to perform emergency medical treatments.


https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/may/25/hibernation-artificially-triggered-in-potential-space-travel-breakthrough

In science fiction, space crews are often spared the boredom and inconvenience of long-distance space travel by being placed into a state of suspended animation. Now this goal may have come a step closer after scientists showed that hibernation can be artificially triggered in rodents using ultrasonic pulses.

The advance is seen as significant because the technique was effective in rats – animals that do not naturally hibernate. This raises the prospect that humans may also retain a vestigial hibernation circuit in the brain that could be artificially reactivated.

“If this proves feasible in humans, we could envision astronauts wearing a helmet-like device designed to target the hypothalamus region for inducing a hypothermia and hypometabolism state,” said Hong Chen, an associate professor at Washington University in St Louis, who led the work.
.
.
.
In humans, inducing a torpor-like state has potential medical applications, with some suggesting that slowing down metabolism could buy critical time for treating life-threatening conditions such as heart attack and stroke. “By extending the window for medical intervention, this technique offers promising prospects for improving patients’ chances of survival,” said Chen. “Additionally, the non-invasive nature of the technique opens the possibility of developing wearable ultrasound devices, such as helmets, for easy access in emergency situations.”

opens the possibility of developing wearable ultrasound devices, such as helmets, for easy access in emergency situations.”

I imagine these selling like hot cakes! No doubt with a number of settings:
1. Sound of Music
2. Visit of in-laws
3. December - March

Steve

[GoSeigen]

Yeah, major problem solved for humanity.

Next useful challenge: how to enable people to get around without any eyes at all, like moles manage to do. Then we can get along pretty well on other planets simply by burrowing around under the ground.


GS

[ursaminortaur]

Yeah, major problem solved for humanity.

Next useful challenge: how to enable people to get around without any eyes at all, like moles manage to do. Then we can get along pretty well on other planets simply by burrowing around under the ground.


GS

There are much better things to pinch from underground living mammals; in particular from naked mole rats with their extreme resistance if not immunity to cancer, ability to survive complete oxygen depletion for 18 minutes and extended lifespans ( at least compared to other rodents).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_mole-rat

The naked mole-rat survives for at least 5 hours in air that contains only 5% oxygen; it does not show any significant signs of distress and continues normal activity. It can live in an atmosphere of 80% CO2 and 20% oxygen. In zero-oxygen atmosphere, it can survive 18 minutes apparently without suffering any harm (but none survived a test of 30 minutes). During the anoxic period it loses consciousness, its heart rate drops from about 200 to 50 beats per minute, and breathing stops apart from sporadic breathing attempts. When deprived of oxygen, the animal uses fructose in its anaerobic glycolysis, producing lactic acid. This pathway is not inhibited by acidosis as happens with glycolysis of glucose.[15][16] As of 2017, it was not known how the naked mole-rat survives acidosis without tissue damage.[18]
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Resistance to cancer

Naked mole-rats have a high resistance to tumours, although it is likely that they are not entirely immune to related disorders.[23] A potential mechanism that averts cancer is an "over-crowding" gene, p16, which prevents cell division once individual cells come into contact (known as "contact inhibition"). The cells of most mammals, including naked mole-rats, undergo contact inhibition via the gene p27 which prevents cellular reproduction at a much higher cell density than p16 does. The combination of p16 and p27 in naked mole-rat cells is a double barrier to uncontrolled cell proliferation, one of the hallmarks of cancer.[24]

In 2013, scientists reported that the reason naked mole-rats do not get cancer can be attributed to an "extremely high-molecular-mass hyaluronan" (HMW-HA) (a natural sugary substance), which is over "five times larger" than that in cancer-prone humans and cancer-susceptible laboratory animals.[25][26][27] The scientific report was published a month later as the cover story of the journal Nature.[28] A few months later, the same University of Rochester research team announced that naked mole-rats have ribosomes that produce extremely error-free proteins.[29][30] Because of both of these discoveries, the journal Science named the naked mole-rat "Vertebrate of the Year" for 2013.[31]

In 2016, a report was published that recorded the first ever discovered malignancies in two naked mole-rats, in two individuals.[23][32][33] However, both naked mole-rats were captive-born at zoos, and hence lived in an environment with 21% atmospheric oxygen compared to their natural 2–9%, which may have promoted tumorigenesis.[34]

The Golan Heights blind mole-rat (Spalax golani) and the Judean Mountains blind mole-rat (Spalax judaei) are also resistant to cancer, but by a different mechanism.[35]

Longevity

The naked mole-rat is also of interest because it is extraordinarily long-lived for a rodent of its size (up to 32 years[16][36]) and holds the record for the longest-living rodent.[37] The mortality rate of the species does not increase with age, and thus does not conform to that of most mammals (as frequently defined by the Gompertz-Makeham law of mortality).[38] Naked mole-rats are highly resistant to cancer[39] and maintain healthy vascular function longer in their lifespan than shorter-living rats.[40]

The reason for their longevity is debated, but is thought to be related to their ability to substantially reduce their metabolism in response to adverse conditions, and so prevent aging-induced damage from oxidative stress. This has been referred to as "living their life in pulses".[41] Their longevity has also been attributed to "protein stability".[42] Because of their extraordinary longevity, an international effort was put into place to sequence the genome of the naked mole-rat.[43] A draft genome was made available in 2011[44][45][46] with an improved version released in 2014.[47] Its somatic number is 2n = 60.[7] Further transcriptome sequencing revealed that genes related to mitochondria and oxidation reduction are expressed more than they are in mice, which may contribute to their longevity.[48]

The DNA repair transcriptomes of the liver of humans, naked mole-rats and mice were compared.[49] The maximum lifespans of humans, naked mole-rats, and mice are respectively c. 120, 30 and 3 years. The longer-lived species, humans and naked mole-rats, expressed DNA repair genes, including core genes in several DNA repair pathways, at a higher level than did mice. In addition, several DNA repair pathways in humans and naked mole-rats were up-regulated compared with mice. These findings suggest that increased DNA repair facilitates greater longevity, and also are consistent with the DNA damage theory of aging.[50]