A hibernating person can be sent on a space journey and will bedon't need food.
Each spring, as the days get longer, different animals ranging fromGrizzlies and gophers begin to awaken from hibernation.We usually say that they wake up, but hibernation is much more difficult than normal sleep.Any animal that can stay underground for months without food, water and survive doesSomething more complex than just sleeping.
Among the animals that hibernate arerodents, some amphibians, and even a few primates. The largest representatives are bears. According to Elena Gracheva, a neuroscientist at Yale University in New Haven, the process that causes such a large being to "switch off" defies simple explanation.
It is important to study the hibernation of bears, as it can be used to learn about the structure of large mammals, in particular humans.If researchers study the process, it could potentiallychange the way we approach a wide range of human diseases, including stroke, osteoporosis, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disease.
How do different animals hibernate?
Bears hibernate in a special way that is not like other animals.Arctic ground squirrels can temporarily lower their body temperature to -3 °C without freezing completely.Bears, on the other hand, lose almost no heat in their dens, but this oneThe process is still called hibernation because their metabolism slows down.
This process, Bryan Barnes, a zoologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and his colleagues carefully tracked more than 10 years ago, studying black bears hibernating in artificial dens.
These lairs were actually chambers thatmeasured oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production - these are important indicators of metabolism. Sensors tracked body temperature. This was the first study to confirm that animals can hibernate without getting cold.
Still, according to Barnes, hibernating bears aren't just resting.They're really shutting down.
"They enter the lair, turn two or threetimes, lie down and stay that way for six months,” says Barnes. They only get up to switch sides every few days. Barnes notes that she-bears carry their cubs during hibernation without feeding or using their own fat and water reserves.
Can a person go into hibernation?
A person could be treated and lie in a hospital bed or fly to Mars, the resultOne is that our muscles atrophy and our bones become thinner after months of inactivity.
Bears don't have this problem.Part of the secret of their strong bones, scientists have revealed only recently. In 2021, Barnes and colleagues published a study showing that hibernating bears are able to turn off genes associated with bone breakdown.
Researchers speculate that somedayit will be possible to manipulate the same process in humans to prevent osteoporosis. Barnes notes that this approach can help bedridden people.
The slow metabolism of hibernating bears is an amazing process.A bear can slow down its breathing and heart rate by about 75% for several months while maintaining a comparatively high body temperature.So far, no one knows exactly how bears slow down their metabolism.
Researchers suspect that the bears do not lie relaxed like ground squirrels, but the oppositeCurled up: this is how the fat fur keeps the bears warm.
Research in this area has given rise to the main question:can a person hibernate? Is it possible to use this state to easily travel in space and not use a lot of resources. In addition, you can hibernate a person who is in intensive care to save his life.
Why would a person hibernate?
Heart attacks and strokes significantly reduce the amount of oxygen reaching the brain.This problem would be much less devastating if doctors could quickly reduce the amount of oxygen needed.In other words, to put a person into a kind of hibernation.
If a person with a stroke is not helped in the first hour after the tragedy, then irreversible destruction in the body will begin.This interval is called the golden hour.If doctors could reproduce hibernation, then this golden hour could be golden week or three weeks.
How to treat people with hibernation?
Scientists note that hibernating bears, ground squirrels and other animals are very similar to people suffering from Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease.In humans, these diseases are characterized by the accumulation of tau proteins, which form tangles in the brain.A sleeping bear's brain undergoes a similar transformation, perhaps because proteins helpProtect neurons during prolonged rest.
“During hibernation, there is a massive accumulation of tau proteins in the brain and central nervous system,” said Elena Gracheva, a neuroscientist at Yale University.
But there is a difference between these processes:in patients with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, tau proteins continue to accumulate as the disease worsens, and the hibernating animal is able to get rid of them. As a result, their brains show no signs of damage, and their memory and motor skills work as before.
Can we ever put a human into hibernation?
Perhaps someday scientists will be able to use the same mechanism to treat patients.The study of the hibernation process is still at an early stage, but researchers are actively studyingthe process of hibernation to understand how progressive brain diseases can be managed.
A 2021 study published inScientific Reports found that induced hibernation and wake-up alone strengthened brain connections and improved memory in mice that had a condition very similar to Alzheimer's. The authors suggest that drug therapy could be developed that could provide a similar cognitive boost to humans, without the need to hibernate.
Now one of the teams of scientists is engaged in the fact thatstudies changes in the brain that cause cognitive impairment in people with Parkinson's disease. In particular, she will work on gene sequencing to better understand the genetic difference between brain cells that are vulnerable to Parkinson's disease and brain cells that remain intact.
The team is using some of the same approaches they took when studying hibernating animals.
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