Disease relevance of Space Motion Sickness

• Medications have been taken since the first Mercury flight in 1967 and, since then, have been used for several indications such as space motion sickness, sleeplessness, headache, nausea, vomiting, back pain, and congestion [1].
• BACKGROUND: Promethazine is used to treat motion sickness including Space Adaptation Syndrome, but there is incomplete information about how it affects vestibular and optokinetic responses [2].
• To investigate this hypothesis, spontaneous eye torsion, a reflex governed by the otolith organs, was examined in the upright position during the hypo- and hypergravity of parabolic flight aboard NASA's KC-135 aircraft in nine former astronauts whose history of space motion sickness was revealed after data analysis had been completed [3].

High impact information on Space Motion Sickness

• Space motion sickness may influence putative changes in gastro-intestinal-hepatic function; neurosensory alterations may affect smell and taste [4].
• Comparable 50-mg injections of promethazine also have been found effective in alleviating symptoms of space motion sickness [5].
• Histamine release from the hypothalamus induced by gravity change in rats and space motion sickness [6].
• Humans taking part in parabolic aircraft flights (PAFs) may suffer from space motion sickness (SMS, a kinetosis) [7].
• The Task Force addressed specific medical problems, including space motion sickness, pregnancy, and medical conditions involving the risk of sudden incapacitation [8].

Chemical compound and disease context of Space Motion Sickness

• Results in the new subjects supported the asymmetry hypothesis and confirmed previous findings that those with low scores of torsional disconjugacy on the KC-135 did not suffer space motion sickness in their prior Shuttle missions while those with high scores did [9].
• Antidiuretic hormone is not suppressed, though its level is highly variable and its secretion may be affected by space motion sickness and environmental factors [10].
• Space motion sickness was not reported during the first Apollo missions; however, since Apollo 8 through the current Shuttle and Skylab missions, approximately 50% of the crewmembers have experienced instances of space motion sickness [11].

Gene context of Space Motion Sickness

• Carbonic anhydrase inhibitors for prevention of space motion sickness: an avenue of investigation [12].
• The possibility that drugs administered to Skylab 3 (SL-3) and 4 (SL-4) crewmen for space motion sickness may have interfered with their biomedical evaluation in space was investigated [13].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of Space Motion Sickness

• Treatment efficacy of intramuscular promethazine for space motion sickness [14].

References