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On behalf of the Topical Team Hibernation of the European Space Agency, we would like to provide some comments on the recently published article "Primate preoptic neurons drive hypothermia and cold defense" by Zhang and colleagues.¹

We read the manuscript with high interest and acknowledge that the authors were able to conduct their experiment on non-human primates, a challenging model for both practical and ethical reasons, hereby striving to expand the validity of many experiments in rodents. Interestingly, the authors report that chemogenetic activation of excitatory neurons within the preoptic area induces a form of hypothermia, while simultaneously, the body is trying to defend its body temperature by increasing locomotor activity, shivering, heart rate, and activating cellular metabolism. Commonly, this is not observed in rodents and poses the question of whether primates may have a more complex brain network controlling metabolic rate. This is most definitely an area of investigation worth pursuing since the metabolic rate was not measured but, certainly, was affected and probably increased as well: an effect that goes in the opposite direction than torpor and that will have to be addressed. The authors expressly referred to torpor as a space-oriented technology in the graphical abstract, and on that, we recommend using caution: a very modest drop in body temperature accompanied by the activation of cold defense mechanism seems not to mimic torpor in an adequate way. In fact, natural torpor proves to be an endogenous metabolic reduction followed by a regulated lowering of body temperature, as it has also been reported for multiple non-human primates.²

We are excited to see hibernation research addressed now across the globe, which relates well to the expectation that enabling hibernation can become a game changer for many medical conditions, as well as space missions. We may point out and encourage this scientific community to work on this topic to foster the exchange and share knowledge. It might be an added value to the readers of this journal and this article explicitly that a European Space Agency Topical Team has been addressing hibernation since 2014, providing a scientific forum to discuss and exchange scientific and engineering advances related to hibernation research, including papers describing possible engineering approaches for a spaceship with torpor technology.³

Indeed, developing a functioning technology for torpor induction in humans would be a tremendous achievement for humanity.

REFERENCES

1. Zhang, Z., Shan, L., Wang, Y., et al. (2023). Primate preoptic neurons drive hypothermia and cold defense. Innovation 4, 100358. 

2. Dausmann, K.H., Glos, J., Ganzhorn, J.U., et al. (2004). Physiology: hibernation in a tropical primate. Nature 429, 825–826.

3. Chouker, A., Ngo-Anh, T.J., Biesbroek, R., et al. (2021). European space agency’s hibernation (torpor) strategy for deep space missions: Linking biology to engineering. Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev. 131, 618–626.

On behalf of my colleagues who conducted the study titled "Primate preoptic neurons drive hypothermia and cold defense," which was recently published in The Innovation,¹ I would like to offer a response to Cerri et al.’s commentary on our study in a correspondence.²

Firstly, I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Cerri and colleagues for demonstrating interest in our study and to the European Space Agency Topical Team for their valuable contribution to the exploration of hibernation. Secondly, as highlighted by Cerri et al., we acknowledge that our study did not measure the metabolic rate. This was primarily due to technical challenges encountered dur- ing the research process. We are fully aware of the crucial role that metabolic rate plays in torpor induction, but measuring it in large animals such as monkeys posed significant difficulties. Nonetheless, we are collaborating with a team from the Space Institute of Southern China to address this limitation. We hope to provide positive updates on this matter in the upcoming months. Thirdly, I appreciate the meticulousness of Cerri et al. regarding the spaceship depicted in the graphical abstract. In my opinion, aside from summarizing our study’s significant findings, the illustration conveys the bright future that we have envisaged for a long time. We believe this is a valuable means of communicating scientific concepts to the general readership.

I am thrilled to be part of the global community that is dedicated to advancing functional technology for torpor induction. I am confident that the journal, The Innovation, would be delighted to facilitate communication and collaboration between Chinese research teams and the European Space Agency Topical Team. Together, we can see the unseen and change the unchanged.³

REFERENCES

1. Zhang, Z., Shan, L., Wang, Y., et al. (2023). Primate preoptic neurons drive hypothermia and cold defense. Innovation 4, 100358.

2. Cerri, M., Bereiter-Hahn, J., Heldmaier, G., et al. (2023). Back to earth. Innovation 4, 100429.

3. Chen, K., Huang, T., Liu, E., et al. (2020). The innovation: a journal to see the unseen and change the unchanged. Innovation 1, 100014.

See the unseen & change the unchanged

创新是一扇门，我们探索未知；  

创新是一道光，我们脑洞大开；  

创新是一本书，我们期待惊喜；  

创新是一个“1”，我们一路同行。