The Central Control of Energy Expenditure: Exploiting Torpor for Medical Applications.
Autonomic thermoregulation is a recently acquired function, as it appears for the first time in mammals and provides the brain with the ability to control energy expenditure. The importance of such control can easily be highlighted by the ability of a heterogeneous group of mammals to actively reduce metabolic rate and enter a condition of regulated hypometabolism known as torpor. The central neural circuits of thermoregulatory cold defense have been recently unraveled and could in theory be exploited to reduce energy expenditure in species that do not normally use torpor, inducing a state called synthetic torpor. This approach may represent the first steps toward the development of a technology to induce a safe and reversible state of hypometabolism in humans, unlocking many applications ranging from new medical procedures to deep space travel.
Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, Physiology Division, Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy; email: matteo.cerri@unibo.it.
Matteo
M
Cerri
D000818:Animals; D001481:Basal Metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D001833:Body Temperature Regulation / Q000502:physiology; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000502:physiology*; D004734:Energy Metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008322:Mammals / Q000502:physiology; D064348:Torpor / Q000502:physiology*
adenosine; hibernation; hypothermia; raphe pallidus; synthetic torpor; thermoregulation