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Human hibernation? Defences against the cold may be a barrier, Chinese study finds
- Hypothermia experiment on monkeys triggered slight drop in temperature and strong defensive response against the cold
- Research shows suppressing that mechanism would be a key challenge for inducing hibernation in humans, neuroscientist says
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Ling Xinin Beijing
Researchers in southern China say they have identified a potential obstacle that could prevent humans from being put into a state of hibernation.
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In the world’s first cell-level hypothermia experiment on primates, the team activated specific neurons in the brains of the monkeys that triggered just a slight drop in body temperature and a strong defensive response against the cold.
Similar experiments on mice and rats in previous studies have resulted in a decrease in body temperature of about 10 degrees Celsius.
But the monkeys cooled down by just 1 degree or so, neuroscientist Dai Ji and his team from the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology wrote in peer-reviewed journal The Innovation on Monday.
Meanwhile, the monkeys kept moving around, their hearts were beating much faster and they were shivering – all in an effort to combat the falling body temperature.
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“Our study showed that if humans are to realise artificial hibernation, a primary challenge would be to suppress our cold defence mechanism,” Dai said in an interview on Tuesday.
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