Suspended animation has been induced in a species of mouse which does not naturally hibernate. The mice felt into their deep sleep after being exposed to hydrogen sulphide – the gas which gives rotten eggs and stink bombs their characteristic foul odour. The animals later revived in ordinary air, having suffered no ill effects.

Hydrogen sulphide sends cells into a state of dormancy. “You’re shutting down the cellular hunger for oxygen,” delaying the cells’ oxygen-starvation and buying time for medical treatment, explains Mark Roth, from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

High levels of hydrogen sulphide have killed people working in sewers and petrochemical plants. But certain low levels appeared to kill the animals, only for them to recover later. Roth notes that a similar “Lazarus effect” has been witnessed in patients pronounced dead after exposure to extreme cold.

In the future, agents which reduce metabolic rate in the same way that anaesthetics are used today could dull pain. It could also help prevent tissue damage and death in stroke or heart attack victims or help preserve transplantable organs for longer.

The breakthrough could be used to put astronauts into suspended animation on long-haul space flights.

Via New Scientist.