Inducing hibernation in mice, possible application to heart surgery

[PapaHappyStar]

In CNN health section today:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/04/22/medical.hibernation.ap/index.html

citing this article in Science

H2S Induces a Suspended Animation?Like State in Mice
Eric Blackstone,1,2 Mike Morrison,2 Mark B. Roth2*

Mammals normally maintain their core body temperature (CBT) despite changes in environmental temperature. Exceptions to this norm include suspended animation?like states such as hibernation, torpor, and estivation. These states are all characterized by marked decreases in metabolic rate, followed by a loss of homeothermic control in which the animal's CBT approaches that of the environment. We report that hydrogen sulfide can induce a suspended animation-like state in a nonhibernating species, the house mouse (Mus musculus). This state is readily reversible and does not appear to harm the animal. This suggests the possibility of inducing suspended animation-like states for medical applications.

1 Molecular and Cellular Biology Program, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
2 Division of Basic Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA 98105, USA.

 

[Marguerite53]

very interesting!

very interesting!

Hm. Sounds good to me!! A nice long sleep, wake up with a new valve. No heart/lung machine. Seattle is just up the road, too! Maybe they'll have something feasable by the time I'm ready! Wonder if you can choose your dreams (like choosing the flavor of sleeping gas that they offer kids!) while you're in hibernation.

Thanks for the update. Things are getting more other-worldly by the minute in technology. As long as the mice don't some day figure out how to put us in cages!!

Marguerite