“Scientists in Japan successfully triggered a hibernation-like state in mice by activating a specific group of brain cells,” reports UPI, which points out that entering a hibernation-like state “could help astronauts conserve food and water, as well as avoid the ill-effects of microgravity, on long journeys through space.”
The research, published this week in the journal Nature, suggests even animals that don’t naturally sleep through the winter are capable of hibernation…
Hibernation isn’t simply prolonged sleep. When food gets scarce and winter approaches, hibernating animals begin to slow down their metabolism and drop their body temperature. During their prolonged slumber, hibernating animals quiet their brains and slow their heart rate and breathing. As a result, bears, snakes, turtles and other hibernating species are able to conserve energy. When spring arrives, the animals wake having lost a little weight, but are otherwise healthy.
Mice don’t hibernate in the wild. But in the lab, researchers were able to coax mice into a hibernation-like state by activating a type of brain cell called Q neurons… During their approximately weeklong hibernation, the mice had slower heart rates, reduced oxygen consumption and slower respiration.
of this story at Slashdot.
Source:: Slashdot