Latest research has shown that spending a considerable amount of time in space can be detrimental to one’s health. Analysts say that this could be due to micro gravity Upon the completion of a two year study, US military researchers did a comparison of human cells on space and cells that remained on Earth. Data for this study was obtained during the last shuttle of Atlantis in 2011. In this shuttle, astronauts along with scientific equipment were carried into space and so was a cargo containing living human cells.
It was noted that during the Atlantis shuttle, astronauts frequently tapped a button which resulted in the infection of cells with bacteria that could cause serious infections. As a result of this, the human immune system was greatly affected and the body’s organs and tissues were greatly affected. Once the shuttle came back to Earth, cells which were transported to space were then compared with the ones which stayed back on Earth. Scientists found out that the cells which went to space had a significantly lower immune system. Micro gravity was said to cause the genes which rule immune responses to be altered negatively. This means that astronauts and cosmonauts are at a greater risk of falling sick.
This is not the only study which has found that spaceflights can compromise human immune systems to a large extent. Previous studies such as those conducted on the Soviet Salyut-6 orbital space station also concluded a negative impact on human immune response. In attempts to further establish this relationship, researchers at University of Houston will be collaborating with NASA on important experiments which will measure space flights impact on immune system and its response on humans. These researchers will collect samples of blood, urine and saliva from astronauts who go into space as well as when they are on Earth. Through these samples, protein levels of body used by the body to fight infections in the two situations will be analysed. The researchers will especially look out for viruses which may lie dormant in the body until they are activated in response to stress for instance. They feel that it is extremely important to ascertain if the immune system is compromised prior to the exploration class space mission. The project is said to begin shortly and samples will be collected with follow-up tests being conducted over a span of 14 months.
The team that conducted this existing experiment concluded that reduced gravity is responsible for altering angeogenesis and vasculogenesis. This is also responsible for promoting genes involved in rheumatoid arthritis, tumor growth as well as wound repair. What this means is that astronauts are probably at a higher risk of developing neurological degeneration and other associated problems resulting from the negative impacts of micro gravity.
