Researchers have found out why striped ground squirrels can hibernate for nearly six months without losing their muscle mass — and plan to use this information to preserve the muscle mass… of astronauts!
A team at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, USA, published a study that revealed that these squirrels (Ictidomys tridecemlineatus) are able to retain their muscle mass despite long periods of hibernation thanks to intestinal bacteria. Though the theory that this metabolic reaction takes place in hibernating animals dates back to the 1980s, it had not yet been validated prior to this study.
“They have a metabolic trick: the bacteria present in their intestines provide them with nutrients,” explains Matthew Regan, a researcher at the University of Montreal, Canada. “Instead of urinating, the squirrel’s body moves a lot of the urea to the intestines where certain groups of bacteria separate it into different compounds.”
And just how might these squirrels help astronauts? Well, by better understanding the hibernation system of squirrels, researchers are hoping to translate the data into something that could preserve the muscle mass of humans here on Earth or in space. Regan received generous funding from the Canadian Space Agency and plans to devote himself to the work.
