Hibernators may hold the key for better human organ pr...( during hibernation yet there are indi...)

during hibernation, yet there are indications that stress has occurred. Carey postulates that cellular pathways are being activated to combat the stress, and does so through the production of defensive molecules. These molecules appear to help protect the hibernator from any damage that could occur. Carey says that it is likely that the intestinal cells are responding to stress and may be generating specific proteins in an attempt to minimize damage.

Do these finding shed any light on what we know of human physiology? Yes, according to Carey.

A Case In Point: Human Liver Transplantation

Consider the case of a patient with a serious illness who needs a liver transplant in order to survive. Once a donor is identified, the donor liver is harvested and then must be transported to the patient's hospital. As the minutes tick by the viability of the donor liver becomes jeopardized. Thus, cold storage is used to keep organs like the liver in a "stasis" condition to preserve their viability. Currently, donor livers only remain viable if their cold storage time does not exceed 24 hours.

Cold storage banking of the liver of a torpid hibernating ground squirrel has shown that the viability of the liver is significantly longer before it shows signs of damage when compared to the liver of a non-hibernating animal, such as a rat or even the liver of a ground squirrel during summer. The physiology of these small creatures may hold the key to improvements in organ preservation and transplantation.

Conclusions

Hibernating ground squirrels switch their physiology so that their organs, such as the gut and liver, can tolerate cold storage during the winter. These researchers are trying to understand the mechanisms of this remarkable ability at the cellular and molecular level and translate the findings into broader-based application for humans.

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Contact: Donna Krupa
djkrupa1@aol.com
703-967-2751
American Physiological Society
26-Aug-2002

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