Cooling Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The Neural and Metabolic Response to Cooling
IRAS ID
220975
Contact name
I S Farooqi
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust and University of Cambridge
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Cooling has been shown to have beneficial effects on human health, indeed, therapeutic hypothermia is a well-established treatment for brain injury, associated with improvements in long-term neurological outcomes. Additionally, it is known that cooling leads to adaptive physiological changes that act to conserve energy, vital for recovery from trauma and disease.
Hibernation in animals allows for survival during periods of reduced temperatures and food scarcity. Prior to full hibernation, animals lower their metabolic rate and core body temperature to preserve energy. In the brain, hibernation is associated with the disassembly of synapses: sites of transmission of nerve impulses. These synapses rapidly reassemble on re-warming, i.e. emergence from hibernation. We have shown that this “synaptic plasticity” can be induced in non-hibernating animals when experimentally cooled and a key effector of this response is the cold shock protein RBM3 (RNA binding protein 3) which is necessary and sufficient to improve synaptic regeneration.
Such studies are important as synapse numbers are reduced in animal models of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, where acute cooling early in the disease process improves synaptic regeneration, prevents cognitive decline and extends survival. We know that these effects are mediated by RBM3 as the protective effects of cooling are abolished by ablation of RBM3.
In view of this data from animal models, and the known clinical benefits of cooling, we propose to investigate and characterise the physiological and neural responses of cooling in humans. Building on our experience into the effects of caloric restriction and thermogenesis, we will use well-established methods from the field of metabolism and standardised protocols for cooling established by clinical researchers studying thermogenesis as a potential therapeutic target for obesity.REC name
East of England - Cambridge South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/EE/0069
Date of REC Opinion
6 Apr 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion