Is Human Hibernation Possible?

 Suspended Animation  

As Rob Henning points out in this must-see TEDx Talk, understanding metabolism may help us understand life itself, and a key way to reach this understanding is to study hibernation. If it becomes possible for hibernation to be induced in humans, the medical applications are innumerable, and it will open up the science fiction dream of suspended animation for space travel.

H
ollywood film makers have referred to the science of hibernation, or suspended animation for decades. Almost half a century ago Stanley Kubrick used ‘hibernation pods’ for enduring the travelling through space in his classic 2001: A Space Odyssey. Astronauts are also put in suspended animation in Aliens, Avatar and more recently Interstellar.

There are two main reasons why the astronauts in these films had to be put into deep sleeps. One is to avoid consuming too many resources aboard the spaceship. The other is to keep them from getting on each other’s nerves.

In medical applications, suspended animation could save lives by preserving organs and life until treatment can be given.  For instance, if a critical patient is picked up by an ambulance, the paramedic may induce a state of hibernation to save the individual for later treatment at a hospital.  A suspended state could also reduce the risk of bleeding out, and make the body more acceptable of aggressive treatments.

"Hibernation deals with the key of life: body metabolism, the chain of chemical reactions that is fueling all life on earth. Controlling metabolism is controlling life. Exploiting hibernation is just one great example of taking advantage of the power of evolution."

Early indications suggest the study of hibernation may yield insights into aging, and ways to reverse the process.

Research into human hibernation also may have an impact on the application of cryonics.

Mammalian hibernation is characterized by profound reductions in metabolism, oxygen consumption and heart rate. As a result, a hibernating animal enters a state of suspended animation where core body temperatures can plummet as low as -2.9°C. A hibernating mammal cannot only survive these physiological extremes, but it can also return to a normal metabolic state without severe damage to its body or brain.

Theoretically, using this mechanism to induce hypothermia in a human can pause that human’s life while still allowing them to be resurrected at a later time.

So, is it possible to induce hibernation in humans?

Rob Henning is professor of Pharmacology at the University Medical Center Groningen.  Henning's research focuses on the development of innovative strategies to prevent or counteract cellular damage in cardiovascular and renal disease. To this end, Rob explores organ protective mechanisms in hibernating animals, as they endure repetitive periods of deep cooling and rapid rewarming without organ damage.

Henning has recently been asked by the European Space Agency (ESA) to share his views and thoughts on long space journeys with human participation.  In the future, ESA plans to send people on a trip to Mars. If the space flight takes two years, then inducing people to hibernate might help with psychological and food storage issues.

The agency has moved forward in work to produce a hibernation-like state in humans in order to facilitate travel to Mars and beyond.

For this work, researchers are attempting to unlock the largely unknown phenomenon of hibernation in ground squirrels and other animals. Cold weather is not the only reason animals hibernate, points out Henning.  In Africa, for instance, many animals hibernate in dry conditions.

If researchers can figure out how the brains of ground squirrels control hibernation, then there might be a way to induce the human brain to put the body in a therapeutic hibernation that can help with certain medical conditions or on space flights.

Interestingly, prior to hibernation most animals add on tremendous amounts of weight, relative to their body size up to 50%, and in fact become diabetic. "The animals are obese and diabetic, yet they suffer none of the consequences often encountered in humans, like blocked arteries," says Henning in the TEDx talk above.

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"The key of hibernation though, is not fattening up," Henning says. "The key of hibernation is that the animals cut back on their need for food.  How do they do it?  They turn off the heat." Animals suppress their metabolism during hibernation, and their body temperature reduces to the ambient values.

During hibernation the organs of the animals undergo changes that resemble disease.  "Their lungs look like asthmatics, their brain is nearly Alzheimer's, their vessels just look aged."

What's more is that the hibernating animal does not remain in the low temperature state all throughout the torpor.  The animal can suddenly become awake, where everything is back to normal in a very short duration.  "It is as if the animal had just had 10 Red Bulls," says Henning.

Henning and his researchers have identified a few other key factors in hibernation:

1. The animals make specific compounds during hibernation that protect organs
2. The large drop in body temperature provides additional protective measures

Importantly, these factors have also been shown to work in non-hibernating animals.

"Hibernation deals with the key of life: body metabolism, the chain of chemical reactions that is fueling all life on earth," concludes Henning. "Controlling metabolism is controlling life. Exploiting hibernation is just one great example of taking advantage of the power of evolution."


SOURCE  TEDx Talks

By 33rd Square

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