Earth Chronicles News 1/28/2022
When bears and squirrels hibernate, they stop eating and live until spring only with the fat reserves accumulated in the body. Usually this prolonged starvation and inactivity greatly reduces muscle mass and function, but hibernators do not suffer this fate. How they manage to avoid it remained a mystery.
Now, in a study published in the journal Science, a biologist from the University of Montreal has figured out why, and his findings may have implications for the future of space travel. Studying a variety of ground squirrels common in North America, Matthew Regan confirmed a theory known as “urea nitrogen rescue,” established back in the 1980s.
According to this theory, hibernating proteins use the metabolic trickery of their gut microbes to recycle the nitrogen in urea, a waste compound normally excreted with urine, and use it to build new tissue proteins.
More:
https://earth-chronicles.com/science/what-animals-hibernating-can-teach-astronauts.html
