2023-05-25 17:01:50
Space travel poses a challenge to the human body. There are patients whose ailments accelerate the countdown of their vital clock. If there were a way to stop everything and buy time, it would open up a possibility to ‘wait’ for a new option or to avoid wearing down the body. Now, a group of scientists from the University of Washington have managed to induce a state much like hibernation. A proof of concept that they have managed to overcome successfully in rats and mice.
For this they have directed ultrasound towards a specific area of the brain and have succeeded in inducing a statedenominated torporwhich involves a slowdown in metabolism and body temperature to save energy. According to the authors, who publish the results in the journal Nature Metabolismif it were to be applied in humans, it could be used in space travel or in Medicine, to increase the chances of survival in life-threatening situations such as heart attacks or strokes.
Reaching that state of lethargy, which in Nature is found in species Like the hummingbirds and bats daily or seasonally in hibernation of bears or aestivation of worms, is achieved through the alteration of the central nervous system, which is the one in control. The ultrasound waves they can be accessed non-invasively into the skull to target the brain and, if they target neurons, have been shown to activate nerve cells in animals.
How is hibernation induced in mice?
The team led by Hong Chen and Yaoheng Yang, from the Division of Neurotechnology at the University of Washington, has invented a ultrasonic emitter that is placed on the head of mice with freedom of movement. The mechanism aims 10-second ultrasonic pulses at the prepathic area of the hypothalamus, a region of the brain known to regulate hibernation.
This triggers an immediate drop in body temperature of several degrees (an average of 3 to 3.5C), along with a reduced heart rate there’s a creduced oxygen consumption in both male and female mice. Two hours later, the animals had fully recovered.
Once this test was passed, they proposed to extend the temporary state of hibernating for 24 hours. To do this, the authors combined their ultrasound emitter with an automated system that delivers a repeated ultrasonic pulse once body temperatures begin to rise, and they were able to keep the animals in this state of torpor for an entire day, without finding any signs of sleep. hurt or discomfort
In the paper, the authors also show that the technique has worked in 12 rats, an animal that does not hibernate naturally, although its body temperature was only reduced by an average of 1 to 2C. By this they suggest that the physiological processes that regulate the metabolic response might be present in non-hibernating mammals.
The work on the mechanism to reach that state of lethargy protector may seem like a small step for this research group, but it promises to be a big step for humanity exploit hibernation states in medicine and possibly for deep space travel.
With the series of recent publications, the scientific community has given important steps toward understanding the role of the brain in inducing torpor. In particular, Yang and Chen’s groundbreaking study merges a variety of technologies to reveal the molecular mysteries and pave the way for the non-invasive induction of torpor.
Therefore, although it is still needed further research to see if the approach would work safely in humansChen’s team argues that a non-invasive and reversible technique to slow metabolism and reduce body temperature could have future applications.
A step that fixes previous attempts
Until now the non-invasive and safe induction of a state of torpor was limited to science fiction in movies and novels. Despite several decades of research, it has still not been achieved. The original concept proposed that the hibernac is rregulated by endogenous blood substances and great efforts were devoted to the search for them, the scientists point out at work.
Later, it was concluded that the state of torpor is controlled from the central nervous system (CNS), so a direct intracranial injection of molecules targeted at CNS pathways induced a profoundly hypothermic state resembling natural torpor. And they have been a series of recent groundbreaking studies who have identified several groups of neurons in the prepathic area of the hypothalamus that regulate torpor and hibernation in rodents.
Genetic engineering of these neuronal populations for optogenetic and chemogenetic manipulation yielded critical torpor-hibernation physiological and behavioral characteristics in mice. Although these Technological advances in inducing a state of torpor are promisingthe approaches required surgical intervention or genetic engineering, limiting the broad application of these approaches and translation to humans, the scientists note.
Ultrasound was billed as “the only energy option available that can to enter the skull non-invasively” and Be placed anywhere inside the brain with millimeter precision and without ionizing radiation. “These characteristics, along with its safety, portability, and low cost, have made ultrasound a promising technology for neuromodulation in small animals, nonhuman primates, and humans, although its mechanism remains elusive,” the authors explain in the article. authors.
This is how torpor works in Nature
He torpor and hibernation are in the aves And in the three subclasses of mammals (monotremes, marsupials, and placentals), which supports the idea that torpor is a plesiomorphic trait (meaning it is older than high metabolic rates and high body temperatures).
“If we accept lethargy as a caracterstica plesiomrfica“, the authors of an article from the same publication that accompanies the main one, ask themselves, Martin Jastroch and Frank van Breukelen“if possible resurrect the torpor program in species that have lost the natural ability to spontaneously enter torpor. We have known for 25 years that at least one species of primate, the fat-tailed dwarf lemur, can enter torpor and hibernation to overcome food shortages during the tropical dry season. Therefore, other primates (including humans) may, in principle, possess the genetic makeup to cope with hypometabolic states“.
However, as Jastroch and van Breukelen argue, “dwarf lemurs are, at best, about 100 times lighter than adult humans (600 g vs. 60 kg body weight), which raises the question of if the hypometabolic states are possible in the largest mammals. In bears, hypometabolism occurs during the winter, with basal metabolic rates decreased by up to 75% with only modest effects on body temperature. Therefore, prolonged hypometabolic states are possible in mammals even larger than humans“.
According to the criteria of
The Trust Project
Know more
#successfully #test #ultrasound #brain #induce #state #hibernation