[extropy-chat] NEWS: Mice put in 'suspended animation' - BBC

Neil Halelamien neuronexmachina at gmail.com
Fri Apr 22 10:53:17 UTC 2005


On 4/21/05, James Corbally <james.corbally at gmail.com> wrote:
> Just saw this on the Beeb site:
> 
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4469793.stm
> 
> -------------------------------------------
> Mice put in 'suspended animation'
> 
> Mice have been placed in a state of near suspended animation, raising
> the possibility that hibernation could one day be induced in humans.
> ...

(Science paper link and abstracted pasted below. If anybody would like
a PDF of the full paper, let me know and I can email it directly.)

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/308/5721/518

H2S Induces a Suspended Animation-Like State in Mice

Eric Blackstone, Mike Morrison, Mark B. Roth

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.



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