The future of artificial hibernation medicine: protection of nerves and organs after spinal cord injury

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a serious condition affecting the central nervous system, often leading to irreversible nerve damage and multiple organ system injuries, with limited effective clinical treatments currently available. Artificial hibernation technologies, including mild hypothermia, hibernation inducers, and central neuromodulation, have shown promise in protecting nerves and organs after SCI by reducing inflammation, suppressing the immune system, and defending against oxidative stress. The exploration of artificial hibernation mechanisms may lead to the development of more clinically suitable treatment strategies compared to mild hypothermia, offering new possibilities for nerve and multi-organ protection after SCI.

• 1
  Artificial hibernation technologies have therapeutic significance on nerve injury after spinal cord injury through inflammatory inhibition, immunosuppression, oxidative defense, and possible central protection.
• 2
  Mild hypothermia can provide neuroprotection in rat spinal cord tissue after SCI by inhibiting apoptosis and autophagy, inhibiting the Toll-like receptor 4/nuclear factor-κB pathway, and promoting microglia M2 polarization.
• 3
  Hibernation-induced immunosuppression may provide a period of “inflammatory quiescence” and delay the process of injury, which is of great significance for the protection of organs and tissues in the environment of the “inflammatory storm.”