筑波大：人工冬眠のスイッチを発見；selectively manipulate Q neurons（動画）：
Neuroscience: Identifying a mammalian ‘snooze button’：
神经科学：识别哺乳动物的“打button按钮”
筑波大/理化学研究所：
本来は冬眠しないマウスを人工的に冬眠状態にすることができた。
筑波大/桜井教授：理研/砂川研究員グループ
マウスの脳の視床下部にある特殊な神経細胞の集まりに目をつけました。
- この部位は、体温/代謝をコントロールする部位、
- マウスに、特定化学物質を注入し、刺激すると、
- 体温と酸素の消費量が、大きく下がりました。
一方、代謝は適切に制御されており、冬眠中の動物に似た状態にすることができました。
今後の利用分野：
将来的には人にも応用できる可能性があるとのこと。
人工冬眠：
救急医療や臓器保存といった医療分野のほか、酸素や食料が限られた有人宇宙探索にも生かせると期待される。
哺乳類は普段、体温を一定に保っている。
（朝日新聞デジタル）
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/2356c9eab65a40c4afac084a9b837d4f312ba5b2
Neuroscience: Identifying a mammalian ‘snooze button’
Nature
June 11, 2020
Neuronal circuits that can trigger a state similar to hibernation in rodents are identified in two studies published in Nature this week.
Artificial induction of a hibernation-like state could eventually have potential medical applications for humans, although this effect has not been tested in people.
Hibernating animals
can lower their body temperature to reduce energy expenditure during times of limited food availability, such as the winter.
Previous research
has implicated the central nervous system in the regulation of hibernation, but the precise mechanisms involved have been unclear.
In an independent study, Michael Greenberg and colleagues
identify a population of neurons within the hypothalamus that regulate torpor in mice.
They demonstrate that stimulating these neurons can drive a mouse to the torpor state, even when there is no shortage of food.
The role of these neurons is confirmed by blocking their activity, which prevents natural torpor from being initiated.
These findings help us to understand the neuronal processes that regulate hibernation-like states.
Sakurai and colleagues suggest that
these neuronal circuits may be conserved in a broad range of mammals, even in non-hibernating species, and posit that it might be possible to selectively manipulate Q neurons.
Inducing a state of synthetic hibernation in humans could have the potential to reduce tissue damage after illness or preserve organs for transplantation, although this is currently speculative.
Nature | Nature Research
https://www.natureasia.com/en/research/highlight/13350/
A discrete neuronal circuit induces a hibernation-like state in rodents
Published: 11 June 2020
Tohru M. Takahashi, Genshiro A. Sunagawa, […]Takeshi Sakurai
Nature (2020)Cite this article
Abstract
- Hibernating mammals actively lower their body temperature to reduce energy expenditure when facing food scarcity1.
- This ability to induce a hypometabolic state has evoked great interest owing to its potential medical benefits2,3.
Here we show that a hypothalamic neuronal circuit in rodents induces a long-lasting hypothermic and hypometabolic state similar to hibernation.
In this state, although body temperature and levels of oxygen consumption are kept very low, the ability to regulate metabolism still remains functional, as in hibernation4.
There was no obvious damage to tissues and organs or abnormalities in behaviour after recovery from this state.
Our findings could enable the development of a method to induce a hibernation-like state, which would have potential applications in non-hibernating mammalian species including humans.