Scientists propose to put astronauts into hibernation during long-distance flights using ultrasound

Evolution has endowed some animals with the abilityhibernate, which allows them to survive in difficult conditions. The scientific name for this condition, in which the body temperature drops (sometimes even below 0 degrees) and all processes in the body slow down, is hibernation. According to scientists, hibernation could be useful not only for animals, but also for people. Moreover, we are talking not only about long interplanetary flights, but also about many other situations on Earth, when processes in the human body need to be slowed down. But how to make an organism, which by nature is not capable of this, fall into “hibernation”? A recent study showed that ultrasound can cause a similar condition.

Scientists have found a way to put people into suspended animation

How does hibernation work in animals

Hibernation allows animals to expendmany times less energy and oxygen than during wakefulness. For example, the pulse slows down from a few hundred beats to a few beats per minute. Inhale and exhale every ten minutes. The blood circulates much more slowly than usual.

But this state is not a dream, but representsa numbness. One study even showed that animals that hibernate sometimes wake up to get some sleep. True, this does not apply to all animals. For example, brown bears do not go into such deep hibernation, and wake up easily when threatened.

During hibernation, animals decrease their body temperature, reduce the number of heartbeats and the frequency of breaths, which allows them to save energy.

Scientists have long been studying hibernation andthe ability to artificially introduce people into it. In theory, this is not something impossible. As early as 1812, the French noticed that wounded soldiers live longer in the cold than in the heat. This indicates that cold can slow down processes in the body.

Animals can be artificially introduced into “hibernation”

In a new study, scientists usedultrasonic cap, which was glued to the heads of mice. The device provided a directed effect of ultrasonic waves on the part of the brain of animals that is responsible for controlling body temperature - the preoptic region of the hypothalamus. In addition, it is this part of the brain that is known to activate natural hibernation in animals that hibernate.

According to the researchers, after switching ondevice, the mice immediately experienced a state similar to stupor. Their body temperature quickly dropped by 3.5 degrees Celsius, followed by a drop in their heart rate. This led to a decrease in the frequency of breathing. The rodents became lethargic and consumed much less food than usual.

Visualization of changes in body temperature of mice after exposure to the brain with ultrasound

When the temperature of the rodents rose above 34degrees (the threshold of natural torpor), the ultrasonic pulses were repeated and the temperature dropped again. Thus, the mice were kept in a state of stupor for a day without any signs of harm to their health or discomfort. Once the device was turned off, the rodents returned to normal body temperature in less than 90 minutes. The scientists called this technology “ultrasound-induced hypothermia.”

The researchers also repeated their trick on 12rats, resulting in their body temperature also dropping, but only by 2 degrees, as the scientists report in the journal Nature Metabolism. According to them, the results of the study clearly indicate that ultrasound can be introduced into a state of stupor in animals that do not hibernate naturally, including humans.

How does ultrasound affect the brain?

Scientists suggest that ultrasonic wavesaffect the operation of the ion channel, which provides the passage of charged particles in the brain cells of animals. However, in nature, numbness causes changes not only at the molecular level, but also at the hormonal level. Perhaps because of this, ultrasound does not cause complete "hibernation".

Hibernation will help astronauts save resources and endure long flights more easily

Before testing this method on humans,scientists need to conduct a number of additional studies to find out how safe it is and how it affects the brain and the body as a whole. But if the results are successful, ultrasonic numbing could be used not only in astronautics, but also in medicine. By slowing down all the processes in the body of patients, doctors will have more time to provide assistance.

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Finally, we recall that previously scientists have alreadyit was possible to enter mice into a state of stupor, but with the help of a chemical substance. Now it has been possible to do this in a safer and simpler way, which is theoretically applicable to humans.