Disease relevance of Space Flight

• Exercise within LBNP decreased the bone resorption caused by bed rest and may provide a countermeasure for spaceflight [1].
• Moreover, although terrestrial hypoxia induces Adh/GUS expression in the shoot apex, no apex staining was observed in the spaceflight plants [2].
• Accordingly, it is necessary to assess potential changes in microbial virulence associated with spaceflight which may impact the probability of in-flight infectious disease [3].
• Subnormal norepinephrine release relates to presyncope in astronauts after spaceflight [4].
• After a 40-day space flight on board the Russian space station Mir, the mutation frequencies of the rpsL gene were estimated by transformation of E. coli and by assessment of conversion of rpsL wild type phenotype (SmS) to its mutant phenotype (SmR) [5].

High impact information on Space Flight

• Therapy of the most common spaceflight ailment-motion sickness-will be considered next month in Part 2 [6].
• The well-defined osteoblast line, MC3T3-E1 was used to examine fibronectin (FN) mRNA levels, protein synthesis, and extracellular FN matrix accumulation after growth activation in spaceflight [7].
• To determine whether altered FN matrix is a factor in causing these changes in spaceflight, quiescent osteoblasts were launched into microgravity and were then sera activated with and without a 1-gravity field [7].
• Changes in bone ECM and osteoblast cell shape occur in spaceflight [7].
• Investigations on Rhesus performed in Paris provided a useful database to evaluate the more complex results obtained in the Russian experiments with space flights, during which, according to the ECoG marker, some attentional disorders occurred [8].

Chemical compound and disease context of Space Flight

• Elevated levels of ethylene occur in enclosed crop production systems and in spaceflight environments, leading to adverse plant growth and sterility [9].
• Streptomyces levoris Kras was used is an experimental test micro-organism during the Apollo Soyuz Test Project to study alternating vegetative mycelial and spore ring periodicity during space flight [10].
• Fludrocortisone does not prevent orthostatic hypotension in astronauts after spaceflight [11].
• Hypoglycemia during space flight induced attenuated responses of EPI, NE and augmented response of ALD [12].
• As part of an ongoing effort to mimic the hypokinesia and hypogravity of spaceflight, the effects of 14 d immobilization and rotopositioning on mandibular bone osteon growth (= radial rate of closure) was assessed in 12 juvenile Rhesus monkeys by tetracycline labeling [13].

Biological context of Space Flight

• To determine whether heat shock protein regulation could be used to evaluate stress in cells during spaceflight, the response of Jurkat cells to spaceflight and simulated space shuttle launch vibration was investigated by evaluating hsp70 and hsp27 gene expression [14].
• A 14-day orbital spaceflight was performed using ovariectomized Fisher 344 rats to determine the combined effects of estrogen deficiency and near weightlessness on tibia radial bone growth and cancellous bone turnover [15].
• However, IGF-I did inhibit humerus endocortical bone formation in both the spaceflight and ground control rats (38.1% and 39.2%, respectively) by limiting MAR. This effect was verified in a separate ground-based study [16].
• The mechanism of the platelet norepinephrine and epinephrine response during spaceflight flight is most likely related to the concomitant decrease in plasma volume [17].
• Using the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae on board the Russian space station Mir, we studied the effects of long-term space flight on mutation of the bacterial ribosomal protein L gene (rpsL) cloned in a yeast-Escherichia coli shuttle vector [18].

Anatomical context of Space Flight

• The typical microbial inhabitants of the oral and nasal cavities of Apollo astronauts were identified before space flight and generally found to be similar to those previously reported for healthy male adults [19].
• The adaptation of single fibers in medial gastrocnemius (MG), a fast-twitch extensor, and tibialis anterior (TA), a fast-twitch flexor, was studied after 14 days of spaceflight (COSMOS 2044) or hindlimb suspension [20].
• Production of interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) was not altered by space flight for the CD8+ cell subset, but there was a significant decrease in IFN-gamma production for the CD4+ T cell subset [21].
• These data indicate that during spaceflight the perception of elbow extension is greater than actuality, and are consistent with the interpretation that microgravity induced a flexor bias in the estimation of the actual elbow joint position [22].
• It has been reported that spaceflight conditions alter the immune system and resistance to infection [Belay T, Aviles H, Vance M, Fountain K, and Sonnenfeld G. J Allergy Clin Immunol 170: 262-268, 2002; Hankins WR and Ziegelschmid JF. In: Biomedical Results of Apollo. Washington, DC: NASA, 1975, p. 43-81. (NASA Spec. Rep. SP-368)] [23].

Associations of Space Flight with chemical compounds

• Therefore, we used PKC inhibitors to determine if the inhibitory effects of spaceflight on TNF-mediated cytotoxicity involved the activation of PKC [24].
• Spaceflight resulted in a dramatic decrease of liver GSH, glutathione disulfide, and total GSH contents (p < .01), which were accompanied by a lower gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase activity (p < .05) [25].
• Pyridinoline, free deoxypyridinoline, and N-telopeptide increased less than CTX during the short-term space flight [26].
• We conclude that norepinephrine excretion during spaceflight is both mission and gender dependent [27].
• Except for those minor alterations listed above, the aerobic and anaerobic bacterial components of the upper respiratory autoflora of Apollo astronauts was found to be stable after space flight of up to 295 h [19].

Gene context of Space Flight

• Specifically, spaceflight resulted in decreases in mRNA levels for GAPDH (decreased in proximal metaphysis), osteocalcin (decreased in proximal metaphysis), osteonectin (decreased in proximal and distal metaphysis), and collagen (decreased in proximal and distal metaphysis) compared with ground controls [28].
• After 16 days of spaceflight, tibialis anterior, plantaris, medial gastrocnemius, and soleus muscles were removed from the hindlimb musculature and examined for the expression of MyoD-family transcription factors such as MyoD, myogenin, and MRF4 [29].
• Coinduction of GTP cyclohydrolase I and inducible NO synthase in rat osteoblasts during space flight: apoptotic and self-protective response [30]?
• Spaceflight significantly decreased catalase, GSH reductase, and GSH sulfur-transferase activities in the liver (p < .05) [25].
• Results indicate that mechanical stresses of vibration and low gravity do not up-regulate the mRNA for hsp70, although the gene encoding hsp27 is up-regulated by spaceflight but not by vibration [14].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of Space Flight

• The mean succinate dehydrogenase activity of neurons with cross-sectional areas between 1000 and 2000 microns2 was lower (between 7 and 10%) in both the spaceflight and the spaceflight plus recovery groups compared to the appropriate control groups [31].
• After breeding was carried out in the three experimental groups (FLT, spaceflight; AGC, asynchronous ground control; VIV, vivarium ground control), specimens of the 25-day-old rats were excised and five left aortic nerves in each group were examined by electron microscopy [32].
• Microgravity induces fluid shifts which can alter the cardiovascular responses of astronauts both during space flight and on return to Earth. The decrease in orthostatic tolerance in astronauts returning from a weightless environment can be modelled in ground-based studies using lower body negative pressure (LBNP) [33].
• Active hexose correlated compound enhances the immune function of mice in the hindlimb-unloading model of spaceflight conditions [34].

References