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Washington, November 26 (IANS): According to a study, critical parts of a cell’s energy-producing machinery, the mitochondria, can be dysfunctional due to space travel.
The findings, published in the journal Cell, are based on studies of mice and humans who have traveled to space reveal.
The impact on a cell’s energy-producing machinery is linked to changes in gravity, radiation exposure, and other factors, according to the study.
“My group’s research efforts focused on the muscle tissue of mice that were sent into space and were compared with the analyzes of other scientists who have studied different mouse tissues,” said Evagelia Laiakis, Associate Professor at the Georgetown University Medical Center in the United States.
“Although each of us have studied different tissues, we all came to the same conclusion: that mitochondrial function was negatively affected by space travel.”
In addition to studying the effects of space travel on cellular function, the scientists used a series of data from NASA’s decades of human flight experiments to correlate their animal results with those of 59 astronauts.
They were also able to access data from NASA’s repository of biological samples that had flown into space to make further comparisons.
The data from NASA’s Twin Study by Mark and Scott Kelly was particularly instructive as it allowed a comparison of the health effects seen in an astronaut in space, Scott, with his earth-bound brother, Mark, who is an astronaut. retired.
By comparing their mouse studies with human data, Laiakis and the team of researchers were able to determine that space travel led to certain metabolic effects: isolated cells were negatively affected to a greater extent than whole organs, changes in the liver were more pronounced than in other organs and mitochondrial function was affected.
Because space travel almost always exposes people to higher levels of radiation than could be found on Earth, scientists knew such exposure could damage mitochondria.
This aspect of radiation exposure translates into health outcomes here on earth for cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy.
With this knowledge of the impact of radiation on mitochondria, doctors may in the future adapt radiation therapy in different ways to protect normal tissues.
The implications for future trips to Mars are particularly worrying, the researchers said, as this would result in a much longer time in space and therefore a long exposure to radiation.
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