We need oxygen to live, but it turns out that we also need it to die.
When death from oxygen deprivation occurs due to blood loss or organ destruction, some oxygen is present in the body, and it is this trace amount that allows the chemical reactions within our cells to occur, resulting ultimately in death.
What if there were no oxygen? What if something like, say, hydrogen sulfide took its place in the body? What would total oxygen deprivation do to a living organism?
Apparently, according to a new series of tests by Mark Roth, a form of suspended animation. Some oxygen leads to death, but no oxygen at all leads to nearly frozen life. In small animals (fish embryos, fruit flies, and rats), Roth has been able to drain their oxygen to 0.1 percent and induce a state of biostasis. What's more, he's been able to bring them out of it with no clear detrimental effects; they simply "pick up where they left off" (qtd. in CNN). While he has yet to be able to reproduce the effects of his experiment in larger animals, specifically pigs, Roth is continuing to work to develop his research for use in emergency medical and military situations.
The implications of the results of this research are astounding. The possibility of nearly unlimited time in treating patients in critical condition is one that cannot be passed up. However, the implications of the research itself may give pause on further reflection. Clinical trials for such a treatment stand to be intensely dangerous. The basis for Roth's hypothesis is that anything short of total oxygen deprivation will result in death. Experimentation on human subjects is a staggering proposition; if the procedure does not perform up to the required standard, the result is almost certainly death. Belmont and Helsinki both deny healthy subjects participation in clinical trials, but how close to death would a patient need to be before he or she is eligible for this very clearly potentially lethal experimental treatment? This new technique stands at the cusp of revolutionizing medical practice, but it must clear significant hurdles before it does.
Relevant Sites:
"Scientists Hope Work With Poison Gas Can Be A Lifesaver" (CNN.com)
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1 comment:
The idea of 'freezing' a human in a certain moment of their life seems more like a feat accomplished in a science fiction movie than in real life. Though the positive fruits of this procedure lay far in the future, I think that the road that leads there has much promise. As Dan suggested, those receiving this treatment would have to be on the brink of death in order for the experiment to occur. This fact alone means that the immediate testing would occur only on those who could benefit. The foundation of the procedure would take route in an ethically sound environment, instead of one that allows people to try and extend their lives into new eras. The prospects of attempting this procedure on a fully functional person lay even deeper in the future. But, what if we arrive there some day? Even if that day arrives, I don't think that people would abuse this type of medical treatment. Who would want to freeze themselves at a certain state, miss a large amount of time with people they know and love, only to awake in a time which they do not know. The only possible reason someone would want to do this is because they have a fatal disease and they would want to wait out time to see if a new medical advancement could cure them. The uses of this treatment do not seem like they would produce many negative effects. Ethically it is a hard subject to make a horrible mistake, other than testing unsuccessfully.
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