Induced hibernation

In a previous study, an experimental oversight led to the accumulation of water filling a container housing diapausing bumblebee queens. Surprisingly, after draining the water, queens were found to be alive. This observation raises a compelling question: can bumblebee queens endure periods of inundation while overwintering underground? To address this question, we conducted an experiment using 143 common eastern bumblebee ( Bombus impatiens ) queens placed in soil-filled tubes and subjected to artificially induced diapause in a refrigerated unit for 7 days...

BACKGROUND: Cold hardiness is fundamental for amphibians to survive during the extremely cold winter on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau. Exploring the gene regulation mechanism of freezing-tolerant Rana kukunoris could help us to understand how the frogs survive in winter. RESULTS: Transcriptome of liver and muscle of R. kukunoris collected in hibernation and spring were assisted by single molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing technology. A total of 10,062 unigenes of R...

Torpor and hibernation are extreme physiological adaptations of homeotherms associated with pro-longevity effects. Yet the underlying mechanisms of how torpor affects aging, and whether hypothermic and hypometabolic states can be induced to slow aging and increase health span, remain unknown. We demonstrate that the activity of a spatially defined neuronal population in the avMLPA, which has previously been identified as a torpor-regulating brain region, is sufficient to induce a torpor like state (TLS) in mice...

Accumulating evidence suggests that various cellular stresses interfere with the end processing of mRNA synthesis and lead to the production of abnormally long transcripts, known as readthrough transcripts (RTTs), which extend beyond the termination sites. Small mammalian hibernators repeatedly enter a state referred to as deep torpor (DT), where the metabolic rate, respiration rate, and core body temperature become extremely low, which produces various types of cellular stresses and therefore induces RTTs...

Hibernating mammals confront seasonal and harsh environmental shifts, prompting a cycle of pre-hibernation feeding and subsequent winter fasting. These adaptive practices induce diverse physiological adjustments within the animal's body. With the gut microbiota's metabolic activity being heavily reliant on the host's diet, this cycle's primary impact is on this microbial community. When the structure and composition of the gut microbiota changes, corresponding alterations in the interactions occur between these microorganisms and their host...

Disuse-induced muscular atrophy is frequently accompanied by iron overload. Hibernating animals are a natural animal model for resistance to disuse muscle atrophy. In this paper, we explored changes in skeletal muscle iron content of Daurian ground squirrels (Spermophilus dauricus) during different periods of hibernation as well as the regulatory mechanisms involved. The results revealed that compared with the summer active group (SA), iron content in the soleus muscle (SOL) decreased (- 65%) in the torpor group (TOR), but returned to normal levels in the inter-bout arousal (IBA); splenic iron content increased in the TOR group (vs...

The mammalian brain is exquisitely vulnerable to lack of oxygen. However, the mechanism underlying the brain's sensitivity to hypoxia is incompletely understood. In this narrative review, we present a case for sulfide catabolism as a key defense mechanism of the brain against acute oxygen shortage. We will examine literature on the role of sulfide in hypoxia/ischemia, deep hibernation, and leigh syndrome patients, and present our recent data that support the neuroprotective effects of sulfide catabolism and persulfide production...

Because of their dependence on ambient temperature ectothermic animals can serve as sentinels of conservation problems related to global warming. Reptiles in temperate areas are especially well suited to study such effects, as their annual and daily activity patterns directly depend on ambient temperature. This study is based on annual data spanning 68 years from a fringe population of Grass Snakes (Natrix natrix), which is the world's northernmost oviparous (egg-laying) reptile, and known to be constrained by temperature for reproduction, morphology, and behavior...

Hibernation is a prolonged state of low metabolism that animals enter in response to extreme environmental conditions to enhance their survival in harsh environments. Recent studies have shown that non-hibernating species can also be induced to enter a hibernation-like state. 2-methyl-2-thiazoline (2MT), a potent analog of fox odor, can induce fear-related behavior in mice with low body temperature and low metabolism, and has specific organ-protective effects. A systematic understanding of 2MT-induced hibernation and its underlying mechanisms may aid in expanding its applications in medicine and other fields...

White-nose syndrome is a fungal disease that has decimated hibernating bats from multiple North American species. In 2014, the invasive fungus arrived at a hibernaculum of little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) inside the spillway of Tippy Dam, located near Wellston, Michigan, USA, yet surprisingly, this population has not experienced the declines seen elsewhere. Unlike a typical subterranean hibernaculum, light enters the spillway through small ventilation holes. We hypothesized that this light causes the hibernating bats to maintain a circadian rhythm, thereby saving energy via social thermoregulation during synchronous arousals...

Hibernation, a survival strategy in mammals for extreme climates, induces physiological phenomena such as ischemia-reperfusion and metabolic shifts that hold great potential for advancements in modern medicine. Despite this, the molecular mechanisms underpinning hibernation remain largely unclear. This study used RNA-seq and Iso-seq techniques to investigate the changes in liver transcriptome expression of Rhinolophus pusillus during hibernation and active periods, as well as under different microhabitat temperatures...

Many animals routinely make energetic trade-offs to adjust to environmental demands and these trade-offs often have significant implications for survival. For example, environmental hypoxia is commonly experienced by many organisms and is an energetically challenging condition because reduced oxygen availability constrains aerobic energy production, which can be lethal. Many hypoxia-tolerant species downregulate metabolic demands when oxygen is limited; however, certain physiological functions are obligatory and must be maintained despite the need to conserve energy in hypoxia...

Ribosome hibernation is a key survival strategy bacteria adopt under environmental stress, where a protein, hibernation promotion factor (HPF), transitorily inactivates the ribosome. Mycobacterium tuberculosis encounters hypoxia (low oxygen) as a major stress in the host macrophages, and upregulates the expression of RafH protein, which is crucial for its survival. The RafH, a dual domain HPF, an orthologue of bacterial long HPF (HPFlong ), hibernates ribosome in 70S monosome form, whereas in other bacteria, the HPFlong induces 70S ribosome dimerization and hibernates its ribosome in 100S disome form...

Controlling intracranial pressure, nerve cell regeneration, and microenvironment regulation are the key issues in reducing mortality and disability in acute brain injury. There is currently a lack of effective treatment methods. Hibernation has the characteristics of low temperature, low metabolism, and hibernation rhythm, as well as protective effects on the nervous, cardiovascular, and motor systems. Artificial hibernation technology is a new technology that can effectively treat acute brain injury by altering the body's metabolism, lowering the body's core temperature, and allowing the body to enter a state similar to hibernation...

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia worldwide and yet remains without effective therapy. Amongst the many proposed causes of AD, the mitochondrial cascade hypothesis is gaining attention. Accumulating evidence shows that mitochondrial dysfunction is a driving force behind synaptic dysfunction and cognitive decline in AD patients. However, therapies targeting the mitochondria in AD have proven unsuccessful so far, and out-of-the-box options, such as hibernation-derived mitochondrial mechanisms, may provide valuable new insights...

Mus musculus enters a torpid state in response to caloric restriction in sub-thermoneutral ambient temperatures. This torpid state is characterized by an adaptive and controlled decrease in metabolic rate, heart rate, body temperature, and activity. Previous research has identified the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) within the hypothalamus, a region containing oxytocin neurons, as a location that is active during torpor onset. We hypothesized that oxytocin neurons within the PVN are part of this neural circuit and that activation of oxytocin neurons would deepen and lengthen torpor bouts...

Bacteriophages are ubiquitous viral predators that have primarily been studied using fast-growing laboratory cultures of their bacterial hosts. However, microbial life in nature is mostly in a slow- or non-growing, dormant state. Here, we show that diverse phages can infect deep-dormant bacteria and suspend their replication until the host resuscitates ("hibernation"). However, a newly isolated Pseudomonas aeruginosa phage, named Paride, can directly replicate and induce the lysis of deep-dormant hosts. While non-growing bacteria are notoriously tolerant to antibiotic drugs, the combination with Paride enables the carbapenem meropenem to eradicate deep-dormant cultures in vitro and to reduce a resilient bacterial infection of a tissue cage implant in mice...

BACKGROUND: Early phase malaria vaccine field trials typically measure malaria infection by PCR or thick blood smear microscopy performed on serially sampled blood. Vaccine efficacy (VE) is the proportion reduction in an endpoint due to vaccination and is often calculated as VEHR  = 1-hazard ratio or VERR  = 1-risk ratio. Genotyping information can distinguish different clones and distinguish multiple infections over time, potentially increasing statistical power...

Changes in protein abundance and reversible protein phosphorylation (RPP) play important roles in regulating hypometabolism but have never been documented in overwintering frogs at high altitudes. To test the hypothesis that protein abundance and phosphorylation change in response to winter hibernation, we conducted a comprehensive and quantitative proteomic and phosphoproteomic analysis of the liver of the Xizang plateau frog, Nanorana parkeri , living on the Qinghai-Xizang (Tibet) Plateau (QTP). In total, 5 170 proteins and 5 695 phosphorylation sites in 1 938 proteins were quantified...

Hibernating Spermophilus dauricus experiences minor muscle atrophy, which is an attractive anti-disuse muscle atrophy model. Integrated metabolomics and proteomics analysis was performed on the hibernating S. dauricus during the pre-hibernation (PRE) stage, torpor (TOR) stage, interbout arousal (IBA) stage, and post-hibernation (POST) stage. Time course stage transition-based (TOR vs. PRE, IBA vs. TOR, POST vs. IBA) differential expression analysis was performed based on the R limma package. A total of 14 co-differential metabolites were detected...