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Human hibernation breakthrough that could send us to sleep for months
Last updated at 21:21pm on 27.05.07It has been the fantasy of science-fiction writers for decades.
Now researchers claim they are close to the breakthrough that will enable them to put astronauts into a state of suspended animation to make deep space voyages to faraway planets.
Human trials are planned this year to chill volunteers so they go into 'induced hibernation' and sleep safely, possibly for months.
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Research teams in Boston, Los Angeles and Pittsburgh are racing to be first to successfully carry out the procedure.
The American teams developed an injectable mix of salt and ice to cool the blood quickly.
The plasma rapidly sends body temperature from 98.6f (37c) down to 50f (10c).
The mixture puts the human body into hibernation by slowing the metabolism, delaying the onset of shock and limiting wound damage, said researcher Hasan Alam, a surgeon at Massachusetts general hospital and a consultant to the U.S. army.
So far it has worked on pigs, sending them into a state of suspended animation for several hours.
But other researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Safar Centre for Resuscitation Research at the University of Pittsburgh, believe this could be stretched to days, then weeks, and months.
The scientists say those in hibernation will need to be fed intravenously on a drip-feed.
Hair and nails would still grow and hibernating people would still age, just like those who have fallen into a coma do.
The researchers also point out another potential difficulty: Human waste would have to be dealt with.
Of the animals that hibernate, only bears seem not to have this problem.
The breakthrough is a spin-off from three arms of research: Into the apparently miracle recovery of those who have shown no signs of life after 'drowning' in icy water; into better ways to treat troops with serious injuries; and into bringing heart attack victims back to life who have been 'dead' for several hours.
Nasa, the U.S. space agency, abandoned work on induced hibernation 20 years ago, but the European Space Agency has been quietly taking another look at it for the last three years.
American researchers followed suit - and the idea got a major boost last December after a Japanese businessman, Mitsutaka Uchikoshi, 35, was found on a snowy mountain side 24 days after vanishing.
When searchers discovered him, Mr Uchikoshi appeared to be in a frozen coma. His pulse was almost undetectable.
His body temperature had dropped to 71f (22c) and his organs had mostly shut down.
He was treated for hypothermia-multiple organ failure and blood loss from his fall. Remarkably, he recovered fully with no lasting ill effects.
When rescuers found Mr Uchikoshi, who broke his hip when he slipped and fell down the mountain, he had lost a lot of weight.
Until becoming unconscious the businessman had survived by sipping the remains of a bottle of barbecue sauce that he had been carrying with him when he fell.
His doctors believe he survived unscathed because he went into some kind of frozen hibernation.
One of his doctors said: "He was frozen alive and survived. If we can understand why, it opens up all sorts of possibilities for the future."
Reader views (7)
That's revolutionary! I can't believe that science has come this far to discover something of this sort of breakthrough in medicine. I now wonder when they will allow us regular citizens to use something like this when we don't want to live for the winter,(or here in Florida the unbearably hot summertime.) Kudos to those working on the research!
- Raven Mckie, Sarasota, Florida, USA
but still wouldn't it slow down the proscess of the moecules which would reduce the time at which the body would age. and if that happened wouldn't that also slow everything down to a minimal it would limit the hair and nail growth substantuailly
- Daniel Moore, Fruita, Co USA
First of all I applaud anyone that still researches this field of science. If we did not have scientists that believed in the impossible we would not have many things that we currently have today.
I am curious if regulating the heart rate and the breathing would have any effect on the process of this method of hibernation. According to the article there bodies went down to 10c (50f). I can only assume that the heart and breathing were also slowed down. By doing so this would use less oxygen and less food on a trip in space. It would also take up time. If I was on a space ship for 9 months lets say to Mars I would probably rather sleep than go stir crazy in a little cabin space. I know myself when on a long plane ride will catch a nap rather than be bored.
- Matthew Thorns, USA, IL
Oh boy, that would be super awesome to hibernate. I hate the winter and if I could get paid to hybernate for the winter, what a life that would be.
- Cara Zampi, Apalachin, Ny, USA
To make a human sleep in a hibernation state would be amazing!! i believe it would be a medical and scientific breakthrough if they figured out how to do this. It would be a medical, scientific and one of mankinds biggest breakthroughs, it would also unlock endless opetunities and possibilities. im all for human hibernation and would be willing to try it out myself
- James Barnes, Shrewsbury, England
I would be willing to be a test subject for sure. To hibernate for at least 100 years of though. Thats if they could stop the aging process.
- Deborah, united states california
I long to hibernate every winter. I suspect we can do this naturally, but have forgotten how.
- Eibren, Camp Hill, PA, USA
