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Drug Induces Hibernation-Like State In Humans
Donepezil Hydrochloride, commonly used to help Alzheimer's patients, is now being used to put emergency patients into a torpor-like state. This "pause" allows medical teams to evaluate options without waiting too long, with attendant damage to the patient.
Being able to induce a torpor-like state in humans has benefits in medical settings where it may bide doctors more time to save their patient. The team behind this research thinks DNP – already FDA approved for use in humans – could help prevent permanent organ damage that sometimes occurs while a person is being transported to hospital.
"Cooling a patient's body down to slow its metabolic processes has long been used in medical settings to reduce injuries and long-term problems from severe conditions, but it can only currently be done in a well-resourced hospital," says immunologist Michael Super from Harvard University.
"Achieving a similar state of 'biostasis' with an easily administered drug like DNP could potentially save millions of lives every year."
(Via ScienceAlert.)
Robert Heinlein describes "cold sleep" in his 1951 novel Between Planets:
In nature, a variety of animals go into torpor for days or weeks, experiencing significant drops in body temperature and metabolism to preserve energy. Similar to seasonal hibernation, torpor's brief periods of rest typically occur during periods of low food availability.
During the first week out the senior surgeon announced that any who wished could avail themselves of cold-sleep. Within a day or two the bunkroom was half deserted, the missing passengers having been drugged and chilled and stowed in sleep tanks aft, there to dream away the long weeks ahead.
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