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Biological Miracle – Wood Frog

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503 points thunderbong | 4 comments | 15 Nov 24 18:16 UTC | HN request time: 0.614s | source
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abound ◴[16 Nov 24 04:12 UTC] No.42154107[source]▶
> Nobody yet understands what starts the wood frog’s heart after being frozen and inert for the entire northern winter.

To me, that's the most fascinating part of the (already quite fascinating) story. Frog is frozen solid, there is no (to our knowledge) heartbeat or brain activity. It thaws and something happens that gets it going again.

I have trouble imagining what that mechanism could even look like. Tiny portion of brain responsible for keeping track of frozen-ness? Some chemical signaling from within the body cavity?

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telgareith ◴[16 Nov 24 04:28 UTC] No.42154234[source]▶
my poor knowledge of biology says it's a deeply unsatisfying "heart beats when enough of the body has thawed for it to beat."

If the heart depends on the brain at all in frogs.

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nine_k ◴[16 Nov 24 05:02 UTC] No.42154434[source]▶
It doesn't, even in humans. There is an independent circuit of special muscle cells right on it that keeps it beating.

So starting and stopping the heart in a controlled manner is pretty interesting, because it has to be well-timed, and there are few obvious and reliable inputs to control it, especially when thawing.

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1. 8n4vidtmkvmk ◴[16 Nov 24 07:28 UTC] No.42155045[source]▶
Why doesn't my heart keep beating if my brain dies then? Or would it?
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2. kampsun ◴[16 Nov 24 07:53 UTC] No.42155136[source]▶
I understand that it would keep beating until you are provided oxygen. That’s my understanding understanding of brain death at least.
3. oharapj ◴[16 Nov 24 14:35 UTC] No.42156642[source]▶
Probably because the brain controls breathing and so the oxygen runs out quickly
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4. 8n4vidtmkvmk ◴[16 Nov 24 22:14 UTC] No.42159842[source]▶
I was going to say that's silly, but I guess we need to be able to hold our breath sometimes.