Biologist finds way to slow death process

SEATTLE, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- A Seattle scientist says he found that hydrogen sulfide can take the place of oxygen and slow the death process in animals.

Biologist Mark Roth, 50, experimented on fish embryos, fruit flies and mice at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and slowed the dying process so animals could be medically saved, CNN reported Thursday.

The use of hydrogen sulfide in place of oxygen is so simple that it is genius, Emory University researcher and cardiothoracic surgeon David Lefer said.

Lefer cautioned that to make its use effective for humans may require combining sodium sulfide and additional agents.

Roth said: "You get a state of suspended animation and the creatures do not pass away, and that's the basis of what we see as an alternative way to think about critical-care medicine."

A physician could be given "real time" to work on a patient whose system is operating on a slower schedule, Roth said.

"While it's true we need oxygen to live, it's also a toxin," Roth said, observing that scientists are beginning to comprehend that death is caused by a series of damaging chemical reactions set off by dropping oxygen levels, not by oxygen deprivation itself.