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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1988

The endocrine system in space flight.

Hormones are important effectors of the body's response to microgravity in the areas of fluid and electrolyte metabolism, erythropoiesis, and calcium metabolism. For many years antidiuretic hormone, cortisol and aldosterone have been considered the hormones most important for regulation of body fluid volume and blood levels of electrolytes, but they cannot account totally for losses of fluid and electrolytes during space flight. We have now measured atrial natriuretic factor (ANF), a hormone recently shown to regulate sodium and water excretion, in blood specimens obtained during flight. After 30 or 42 h of weightlessness, mean ANF was elevated. After 175 or 180 h, ANF had decreased by 59%, and it changed little between that time and soon after landing. There is probably an increase in ANF early inflight associated with the fluid shift, followed by a compensatory decrease in blood volume. Increased renal blood flow may cause the later ANF decrease. Erythropoietin (Ep), a hormone involved in the control of red blood cell production, was measured in blood samples taken during the first Spacelab mission and was significantly decreased on the second day of flight, suggesting also an increase in renal blood flow. Spacelab-2 investigators report that the active vitamin D metabolite 1 alpha, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 increased early in the flight, indicating that a stimulus for increased bone resorption occurs by 30 h after launch.

Aerospace Medicine↗
PubMed1988

Pulmonary function in microgravity: Spacelab 4 and beyond.

This paper refers principally to the composition gradient of gases within the lung in various conditions of gravity, as revealed by exhaled breath. A rapid gas analyzer-based system has been developed for tests in Spacelab 4. The test sequence and expected results are presented.

Breath Tests↗
PubMed1988

Comparative morphometry of fibers and capillaries in soleus following weightlessness (SL-3) and suspension.

This work is a continuation of efforts to assess responses of rat skeletal muscle to weightlessness and earthside laboratory experiments with unloading of hind limbs. The soleus is a slow twitch, load bearing (antigravity) muscle. Both exposure to weightlessness (W) and to the hypokinesia/hypodynamia of whole body suspension (WBS) results in soleus atrophy. Cross sectional areas of both slow and fast twitch fibers decrease during 7 days of W, and 7 or 14 days of WBS. Density and area changes tended to reverse to control levels during 7 days of recovery (R) following WBS. Capillary density was increased with 7 days of W, and 7 or 14 days of WBS. During 7 days of R the capillary density returned toward control levels. In summary, the reduction in fiber cross sectional areas and increase in fiber and capillary densities support the hypothesis that in both forms of disuse, i.e., W and WBS, there is a loss in soleus muscle cell mass and not in fiber numbers.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Human mononuclear cell function after 4 degrees C storage during 1-G and microgravity conditions of spaceflight.

Future space missions of long duration may require that autologous leukocytes be stored in flight for infusion to restore normal immune competence in crewmembers. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNCs), as leukocyte concentrates in autologous plasma and 2% dextrose, were stored in the microgravity conditions provided by the U.S. Space Shuttle Columbia (Mission 61-C). Activity of PBMNC after space flight was compared with that from a series of preflight ground control experiments, which demonstrated in culture a progressive daily loss in mitogen-stimulated protein synthesis at 24 h and thymidine uptake at 72 h after storage for 7 d at 4 degrees C. Post-storage viabilities were at least 90% as determined by trypan dye exclusion. A progressive reduction in the percentage of PBMNC expressing cell-surface phenotype markers, which was similar for monocytes, B cells, and T-cell subsets, also occurred after storage. The ability of PBMNC, stored for 8 d in Columbia's middeck, to become activated and proliferate in vitro was similar to that of cells that remained in identical flight lockers on the ground as 1-G controls, thus indicating that PBMNCs were not adversely affected by storage under microgravity conditions.

Benzoates↗
PubMed2003

Vergence-dependent adaptation of the vestibulo-ocular reflex.

The gain of the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) normally depends on the distance between the subject and the visual target, but it remains uncertain whether vergence angle can be linked to changes in VOR gain through a process of context-dependent adaptation. In this study, we examined this question with an adaptation paradigm that modified the normal relationship between vergence angle and retinal image motion. Subjects were rotated sinusoidally while they viewed an optokinetic (OKN) stimulus through either diverging or converging prisms. In three subjects the diverging prisms were worn while the OKN stimulus moved out of phase with the head, and the converging prisms were worn when the OKN stimulus moved in-phase with the head. The relationship between the vergence angle and OKN stimulus was reversed in the fourth subject. After 2 h of training, the VOR gain at the two vergence angles changed significantly in all of the subjects, evidenced by the two different VOR gains that could be immediately accessed by switching between the diverged and converged conditions. The results demonstrate that subjects can learn to use vergence angle as the contextual cue that retrieves adaptive changes in the angular VOR.

Adaptation, Physiological↗
PubMed1999

Three-dimensional organization of vestibular-related eye movements to off-vertical axis rotation and linear translation in pigeons.

During linear accelerations, compensatory reflexes should continually occur in order to maintain objects of visual interest as stable images on the retina. In the present study, the three-dimensional organization of the vestibulo-ocular reflex in pigeons was quantitatively examined during linear accelerations produced by constant velocity off-vertical axis yaw rotations and translational motion in darkness. With off-vertical axis rotations, sinusoidally modulated eye-position and velocity responses were observed in all three components, with the vertical and torsional eye movements predominating the response. Peak torsional and vertical eye positions occurred when the head was oriented with the lateral visual axis of the right eye directed orthogonal to or aligned with the gravity vector, respectively. No steady-state horizontal nystagmus was obtained with any of the rotational velocities (8-58 degrees /s) tested. During translational motion, delivered along or perpendicular to the lateral visual axis, vertical and torsional eye movements were elicited. No significant horizontal eye movements were observed during lateral translation at frequencies up to 3 Hz. These responses suggest that, in pigeons, all linear accelerations generate eye movements that are compensatory to the direction of actual or perceived tilt of the head relative to gravity. In contrast, no translational horizontal eye movements, which are known to be compensatory to lateral translational motion in primates, were observed under the present experimental conditions.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Fas/APO-1 protein is increased in spaceflown lymphocytes (Jurkat).

Human lymphocytes flown on the Space Shuttle respond poorly to mitogen stimulation and populations of the lymphoblastoid T cell line, Jurkat, manifest growth arrest, increase in apoptosis and time- and microgravity-dependent increases in the soluble form of the cell death factor, Fas/APO-1 (sFas). The potential role of apoptosis in population dynamics of space-flown lymphocytes has not been investigated previously. We flew Jurkat cells on Space Transportation System (STS)-80 and STS-95 to determine whether apoptosis and the apparent microgravity-related release of sFas are characteristic of lymphocytes in microgravity. The effects of spaceflight and ground-based tests simulating spaceflight experimental conditions, including high cell density and low serum concentration, were assessed. Immunofluorescence microscopy showed increased cell associated Fas in flown cells. Results of STS-80 and STS-95 confirmed increase in apoptosis during spaceflight and the release of sFas as a repeatable, time-dependent and microgravity-related response. Ground-based tests showed that holding cells at 1.5 million/ml in medium containing 2% serum before launch did not increase sFas. Reports of increased Fas in cells of the elderly and the increases in spaceflown cells suggest possible similarities between aging and spaceflight effects on lymphocytes.

Aging↗
PubMed2000

Microgravity as a novel environmental signal affecting Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium virulence.

The effects of spaceflight on the infectious disease process have only been studied at the level of the host immune response and indicate a blunting of the immune mechanism in humans and animals. Accordingly, it is necessary to assess potential changes in microbial virulence associated with spaceflight which may impact the probability of in-flight infectious disease. In this study, we investigated the effect of altered gravitational vectors on Salmonella virulence in mice. Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium grown under modeled microgravity (MMG) were more virulent and were recovered in higher numbers from the murine spleen and liver following oral infection compared to organisms grown under normal gravity. Furthermore, MMG-grown salmonellae were more resistant to acid stress and macrophage killing and exhibited significant differences in protein synthesis than did normal-gravity-grown cells. Our results indicate that the environment created by simulated microgravity represents a novel environmental regulatory factor of Salmonella virulence.

Acids↗
PubMed2000

Decreased thin filament density and length in human atrophic soleus muscle fibers after spaceflight.

Soleus muscle fibers were examined electron microscopically from pre- and postflight biopsies of four astronauts orbited for 17 days during the Life and Microgravity Sciences Spacelab Mission (June 1996). Myofilament density and spacing were normalized to a 2. 4-microm sarcomere length. Thick filament density ( approximately 1, 062 filaments/microm(2)) and spacing ( approximately 32.5 nm) were unchanged by spaceflight. Preflight thin filament density (2, 976/microm(2)) decreased significantly (P < 0.01) to 2,215/microm(2) in the overlap A band region as a result of a 17% filament loss and a 9% increase in short filaments. Normal fibers had 13% short thin filaments. The 26% decrease in thin filaments is consistent with preliminary findings of a 14% increase in the myosin-to-actin ratio. Lower thin filament density was calculated to increase thick-to-thin filament spacing in vivo from 17 to 23 nm. Decreased density is postulated to promote earlier cross-bridge detachment and faster contraction velocity. Atrophic fibers may be more susceptible to sarcomere reloading damage, because force per thin filament is estimated to increase by 23%.

Actin Cytoskeleton↗
PubMed2000

Effects of spaceflight and thyroid deficiency on hindlimb development. I. Muscle mass and IGF-I expression.

Thyroid deficiency (TD) in neonatal rats causes reduced growth of skeletal muscle that is disproportionately greater than that for other tissues (G. R. Adams, S. A. McCue, M. Zeng, and K. M. Baldwin. Am. J. Physiol. Regulatory Integrative Comp. Physiol. 276: R954-R961, 1999). TD depresses plasma insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) levels, suggesting a mechanism for this effect. We hypothesized that TD and exposure to spaceflight (SF) would interact to reduce skeletal muscle growth via a reduction in IGF-I levels. Neonatal rats were flown in space for 16 days. There was a similar, nonadditive reduction in the growth of the body ( approximately 50%) and muscle weight (fast muscles, approximately 60%) with either TD or SF. In the soleus muscle, either SF or TD alone resulted in growth reductions that were augmented by SF-TD interactions. There were strong correlations between 1) muscle mass and muscle IGF-I levels and 2) circulating IGF-I and body weight. These results indicate that either hypothyroidism or exposure to SF will limit the somatic and muscle-specific growth of neonatal rats. The impact of these perturbations on skeletal muscle growth is relatively greater than the effect on somatic growth. The mechanisms by which either TD or SF impact growth appear to have a common pathway involving the control of plasma and muscle IGF-I concentrations.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

Effects of 2 G on adiposity, leptin, lipoprotein lipase, and uncoupling protein-1 in lean and obese Zucker rats.

Male Zucker rats were exposed to 2 G for 8 wk to test the hypothesis that the leptin regulatory pathway contributes to recovery from effects of 2 G on feeding, growth, and nutrient partitioning. After initial hypophagia, body mass-independent food intake of the lean rats exposed to 2 G surpassed that of the lean rats maintained at 1 G, but food intake of the obese rats exposed to 2 G remained low. After 8 wk at 2 G, body mass and carcass fat were less in both genotypes. Leptin and percent fat were lower in lean rats exposed to 2 G vs. 1 G but did not differ in obese rats exposed to 2 G vs. 1 G. Although exposure to 2 G did not alter uncoupling protein-1 levels, it did elicit white fat pad-specific changes in lipoprotein lipase activity in obese but not lean rats. We conclude that 2 G affects both genotypes but that the lean Zucker rats recover their food intake and growth rate and retain "normal" lipoprotein lipase activity to a greater degree than do the obese rats, emphasizing the importance of a functional leptin regulatory pathway in this acclimation.

Adipose Tissue, Brown↗
PubMed2002

Psychological and psychiatric issues in space.

Based on anecdotal reports from space and studies of space analog environments on Earth, a number of psychosocial and psychiatric issues have been identified that can lead to problems in space. We studied several of these issues during a series of Shuttle/Mir missions. We found support for decrements in commander support during the 2nd half of the missions and a novelty effect in U.S. astronauts at the beginning. Displacement of unpleasant emotions to outside individuals was found in both crewmember and mission control subjects. Americans were less happy with their work environment than Russians, and mission control personnel were more dysphoric than crewmembers. The subjects considered problems on-board the Mir to be major critical events. We found no evidence for the occurrence of asthenia during the missions, although our measure did not evaluate all of the features of this syndrome.

NASA Program Biomedical Research and Countermeasur↗
PubMed1989

Lana chimpanzee learns to count by "NUMATH": a summary of a videotaped experimental report.

This paper summarizes a videotaped presentation (Rumbaugh, Savage-Rumbaugh, Hopkins, Washburn, & Runfeldt, 1987) of computerized training programs whereby an adult female chimpanzee, Lana (Pan troglodytes), learned to use a joystick to remove from a screen the number of boxes appropriate to the value of a randomly selected Arabic numeral 1, 2, or 3. Initial training provided a variety of cues, both numeric and otherwise, to support correct performance. Across software programs, all cues other than numeric ones were deleted. In the final test, Lana was correct on over 80% of trials in which there was no residual feedback of intratrial events and where only her memory of those events could provide the cue to indicate that she had removed boxes in accordance with the value of the target numbers and should terminate the trial. The tape is narrated and consists of video recordings of Lana's performance on each software program.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

Nonlinear dynamics in cardiac conduction.

Electrical conduction in the heart shows many phenomena familiar from nonlinear dynamics. Among these phenomena are multiple basins of attraction, phase locking, and perhaps period-doubling bifurcations and chaos. We describe a simple cellular-automation model of electrical conduction which simulates normal conduction patterns in the heart as well as a wide range of disturbances of heart rhythm. In addition, we review the application of percolation theory to the analysis of the development of complex, self-sustaining conduction patterns.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Radiation effects in Caenorhabditis elegans, mutagenesis by high and low LET ionizing radiation.

The nematode C. elegans was used to measure the effectiveness of high-energy ionized particles in the induction of 3 types of genetic lesions. Recessive lethal mutations in a 40-map unit autosomal region, sterility, and X-chromosome nondisjunction or damage were investigated. Induction rates were measured as a function of linear energy transfer, LET infinity, for 9 ions of atomic number 1-57 accelerated at the BEVALAC accelerator. Linear kinetics were observed for all 3 types of lesions within the dose/fluence ranges tested and varied strongly as a function of particle LET infinity. Relative Biological Effectiveness (RBE) values of up to 4.2 were measured and action cross sections were calculated and compared to mutagenic responses in other systems.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Blockade of 5-hydroxytryptamine3 receptors prevents cisplatin-induced but not motion- or xylazine-induced emesis in the cat.

5-Hydroxytryptamine3 antagonists have been reported to prevent emesis elicited by cisplatin and radiation. This study investigated the possibility that drugs with this mechanism of action may be useful in preventing emesis elicited by other stimuli. The drugs ICS 205-930 (0.1 and 1.0 mg/kg) and MDL 72222 (0.1 and 1.0 mg/kg) were administered SC to cats before challenging them with either provocative motion or an emetic dose of xylazine. In no instance was a significant reduction in emesis evident. Zacopride was also administered before motion testing (0.01 to 10.0 mg/kg) and found to not have efficacy. To test the possibility that species or route of administration were factors in the negative results, 1.0 mg/kg of ICS 205-930 was administered SC before IV infusion of 7.5 mg/kg of cisplatin. There was a total suppression of emesis for the duration of the six-hour observation periods. This result verifies other work which found 5-hydroxytryptamine3 antagonists to be effective in preventing emesis elicited by cancer chemotherapeutic treatments. However, there is no evidence that they are effective in other syndromes, such as motion sickness and xylazine-induced emesis.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

8-OH-DPAT suppresses vomiting in the cat elicited by motion, cisplatin or xylazine.

Vomiting was suppressed in cats pretreated with 8-OH-DPAT and then challenged with an emetic stimulus; motion, xylazine or cisplatin. The antiemetic effect is likely due to stimulation of postsynaptic serotonin-1A receptors. The most parsimonious explanation is that it acts at a convergent structure, presumably at or near the vomiting center. If so, 8-OH-DPAT may block emesis elicited by virtually any other stimulus. A supplementary experiment revealed that lorazepam suppressed motion sickness at a dose that produced ataxia, but did not suppress xylazine-induced emesis. These results do not support the possibility that the antiemetic effects of 8-OH-DPAT were the result of anxiolytic activity.

8-Hydroxy-2-(di-n-propylamino)tetralin↗