Wintering Squirrels Can Teach Astronauts: Hibernating Ground Squirrels Burn Almost No Energy

upstart writes:

What wintering squirrels can teach astronauts: The unique way that ground squirrels burn almost no energy when they hibernate - with no loss of muscle mass - has implications for space travel:

Now, in research published in Science, an Universite de Montreal biologist has figured out why, and his findings could have implications for, of all things, the future of space travel . By studying a variety called the 13-lined ground squirrel that is common in North America, Matthew Regan has confirmed a theory known as "urea nitrogen salvage" dating back to the 1980s.

The theory posits that hibernators harness a metabolic trick of their gut microbes to recycle the nitrogen present in urea, a waste compound that is usually excreted as urine, and use it to build new tissue proteins.

How could this discovery be of use in space? Theoretically, Regan posits, by helping astronauts minimize their own muscle-loss problems caused by microgravity-induced suppression of protein synthesis and which they now try to reduce by intensively exercising.

If a way could be found to augment the astronauts' muscle protein synthesis processes using urea nitrogen salvage, they could be able to achieve better muscle health during long voyages into deep space in spacecraft too small for the usual exercise equipment, the argument goes.

"Because we know which muscle proteins are suppressed during spaceflight, we can compare these proteins with those that are enhanced by urea nitrogen salvage during hibernation," said Regan, who carried out this research while a postdoc at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Journal Reference:
Matthew D. Regan, Edna Chiang, Yunxi Liu , et al. Nitrogen recycling via gut symbionts increases in ground squirrels over the hibernation season, Science (DOI: 10.1126/science.abh2950)

Original Submission

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