A Bone Loss Experiment is Headed For the ISS

The thirty third SpaceX business resupply mission will launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday, August twenty fourth, for the International Space Station (ISS). Along with an everyday complement of sundries, this mission will carry quite a few science investigations, like a 3D bioprinted implantable medical gadget, engineered liver tissues, and one other 3D steel printing experiment. In addition, the mission will ship an necessary medical investigation inspecting potential bone density loss, a typical well being impact that comes from prolonged durations spent in microgravity.

Ongoing experiments aboard the ISS have proven that astronauts expertise a gradual loss in bone density, even with constant train and resistance coaching utilizing the station’s gear. The investigation will take a look at how microgravity impacts bone-forming and bone-degrading cells, which may assist astronauts guard towards bone density loss throughout long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars. It will even have functions for thousands and thousands of individuals right here on Earth, probably resulting in new remedies for individuals affected by osteoporosis.

Previous analysis into the results of microgravity on the human physique has proven that astronauts usually lose round 1 to 2% of their bone density monthly. While medical analysis has documented how bones develop and age right here on Earth, many unanswered questions stay about how and why they weaken in microgravity. Specifically, the Microgravity Associated Bone Loss-B (MABL-B) investigation will give attention to mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), that are accountable for constructing new bone tissue within the physique because the cells mature.

The experiment will construct on the MABL-A mission, which discovered that microgravity promotes signalling from a protein referred to as Interleukin 6 (IL-6). This protein is produced by numerous cells within the physique and acts as each a pro-inflammatory and an anti-inflammatory mediator within the immune system. Therefore, the MABL-A findings recommend that elevated signalling from this protein enhances bone degeneration in microgravity. The MABL-B experiment will examine this by testing methods to dam IL-6 signalling pathways. It will include mesenchymal stem cells and bone cells grown and cultured for 19 days in specialised medical containers aboard the ISS.

Crew members will periodically gather samples for evaluation again on Earth to find out the function of the IL-6 protein in bone degeneration. This analysis may result in focused remedies for the Artemis astronauts as they return to the Moon (this time, to remain!) and people who will enterprise to Mars within the coming a long time. As missions enterprise farther from Earth, sustaining crew well being is very necessary since alternatives for medical evacuation won’t be doable. It may additionally result in remedies for individuals who have osteoporosis and different degenerative bone illnesses.

Further Reading: NASA