Hibernation is a complex solution to a simple problem. In winter, food is scarce. To survive this seasonal famine, animals, such as the arctic ground squirrel and black bear, induce a sedentary state under which physiological shifts keep them alive despite the lack of food, water and movement. Researchers and doctors alike are interested in how these hibernation tricks could help humans with their own health. 冬眠是简单问题的复杂答案。冬天食物匮乏。北极地鼠和黑熊等动物为了度过季节性饥荒,进入一种很少活动的状态。在这种状态下,生理变化让它们在缺少食物、饮水和运动的情况下生存。冬眠能否帮助人类解决健康问题?科研人员和医生都对此十分关注。 Stroke 中风 Blood flow in the brain of a hibernating arctic ground squirrel drops to a tenth of normal. Typically such oxygen deprivation would cause a stroke. But these squirrels can survive all winter because their metabolism lowers to 2 percent of its summer rate—requiring much less oxygen to maintain. If paramedics could similarly lower the metabolism of a human patient immediately after a stroke—perhaps by cooling the body—they might prevent permanent brain damage, says Brian Barnes, a biologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. 冬眠中的北极地鼠的脑部血液循环速度只有平时的十分之一。通常氧气不足会导致中风,但北极地鼠在冬季的新陈代谢只有夏天的2%,这使得它们需要更少的氧气就能存活。阿拉斯加费尔贝克斯大学的生物学家布莱恩·巴恩斯指出,如果医护人员也能在病人中风后通过降低体温等手段迅速降低人体的新陈代谢,就有可能避免永久性脑损伤。 |