Mice placed in a form of suspended animation

[johnny861]

Gas Puts Mice on Pause
Inducing hibernation in non-hibernating mammals, technique could be used to "buy patients time"


For the first time, mice have been placed into a type of suspended animation using a technique that could buy people time for better treatments.

The technique, developed by researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington, essentially induces hibernation in non-hibernating mammals, temporarily converting mice from warm-blooded to cold-blooded creatures.

"We think this may be a latent ability that all mammals have—potentially even humans—and we're just harnessing it and turning it on and off, inducing a state of hibernation on demand," says study lead investigator Mark Roth.

Better treatments
Because cellular activity slows to a crawl during hibernation, reducing an organism's need for oxygen, the technique—if it works in humans—could be used in such situations as when patients are awaiting an organ transplant.

Other possible applications include inducing hibernation to treat severe blood loss, fevers, cardiac arrest, stroke and more.

The approach could even help improve cancer care. While cancer cells can grow without oxygen, healthy cells can't. Radiation and chemotherapy therefore kill healthy cells first, so inducing a state of hibernation in healthy tissues could level the playing field.

"In the end I suspect there will be clinical benefits and it will change the way medicine is practiced, because we will, in short, be able to buy patients time," says Roth.

Oxygen deprivation

Roth and colleagues put mice into hibernation for up to six hours by placing them in a chamber filled with normal air laced with 80 parts per million of hydrogen sulfide, a chemical normally produced in humans and other animals that is thought to help regulate body temperature and metabolic activity.

Just a few minutes after they started breathing the air, the mice stopped moving and appeared to lose consciousness. Their respiration dropped from 120 breaths per minute to fewer than 10. And their core temperature dropped from 37°C to as low as 11°C.

The metabolic suspension is achieved through oxygen deprivation caused by the fact that hydrogen sulfide is very similar to oxygen at the molecular level and so binds to many of the same cellular receptors. This inhibits the body's ability to use oxygen for energy production, which in turn causes creatures to enter a hibernation-like state. Exposure to normal air quickly returns normal function and metabolic activity with no long-term negative effects.

If the results in mice hold in larger animals, clinical trials could be undertaken in humans. Roth anticipates that such trials could be under way within about five years.

The research is reported in the journal Science.

[zerojunkie]

wow...would solve a lot of the problems associated with long distance space travel too.

[Satchel]

Originally Posted by zerojunkie

wow...would solve a lot of the problems associated with long distance space travel too.

funny I was just thinking the same thing

very exciting possibilities here

[Croix]

not really. your still going to age while hibernating

[IrishRaver]

but cellular aging will be a MUCH slower rate....so you can be 100 years old, but with this you would look and feel say...60

[bfp]

If only we could tack onto the gene that causes aging.

[zerojunkie]

Originally Posted by Croix

not really. your still going to age while hibernating

Baby steps...baby steps...I'm talking about our solar system.

[IrishRaver]

Originally Posted by bfp

If only we could tack onto the gene that causes aging.

last i heard theyve already found it, and through gene therapy they have rats living 3-5x longer than the norm....

[zerojunkie]

Originally Posted by IrishRaver

last i heard theyve already found it, and through gene therapy they have rats living 3-5x longer than the norm....

Really?!

10char

[IrishRaver]

more along the lines of doubling or even tripling the human lifespan
doubtful it will get much funding however.....due to people so violently opposed to genetic research/modification

[Vosh]

Originally Posted by stargazer

what would be the purpose for that?

it is a solution without a problem

What? No, I personally find my death to be a MAJOR obstacle and problem. Maybe you don't, but I sure do.

[Vosh]

Originally Posted by stargazer

why? what do you need to do that you can't do within the allotted time you're given?

I personally imagine much more. More travelling, more experiences. Food, women, life. More books to read, people to meet, places to see. New skills to learn, hobbies to love, the list goes on and on. That and I just don't want to die. It's really not that complicated of an desire.

[la dj]

i dont know.

fuckin w/ mother nature may have some consequences.

[johnny861]

Originally Posted by Vosh

I personally imagine much more. More travelling, more experiences. Food, women, life. More books to read, people to meet, places to see. New skills to learn, hobbies to love, the list goes on and on. That and I just don't want to die. It's really not that complicated of an desire.

I concur. I want to see the future and not simply see it, but be an active participant in it. Along with ultra longetivity, I also believe in ideas such as the singularity.

I think the biggest tragedy is the passing of an individual without the opportunity to express their experience, to share their story if they wish to do so or to realize their full potential. I applaud senior citizens going back to college, becuase of a desire to know more. I only wish they had another half century or more to bring the knowledge to fruition. Some may get the chance, some...

For other people, it may take more than a lifetime to realize their full potential. Einstein, von Neuman, etc... individuals that have contributed so much, but could have contributed so much more had they had the time to do so.