New Hope for Alleviating Muscle Loss in Space and Earth
TapTechNews August 14th news, a new study shows that the severe muscle loss problem experienced by astronauts in the microgravity environment of space may be partially alleviated. This study designed a new type of drug that can combat muscle loss caused by microgravity to a certain extent, bringing hope for the treatment of long-term space missions and the problem of muscle aging on Earth.
The researchers pointed out that just one week of space flight will significantly accelerate the aging rate of the astronaut's muscles, even approaching the disease state of a disease called sarcopenia that elderly people have on Earth. On Earth, sarcopenia takes decades to occur and usually affects the elderly. Due to the microgravity environment in space, the muscles no longer bear the gravitational load as they do on Earth, resulting in weakened functions. Even if the astronauts follow a high-intensity exercise plan on the International Space Station, including riding a stationary bike, running and weightlifting, they will still lose 10% to 20% of their muscle mass, making them at a higher risk of serious health problems.
Associate Professor at Stanford University and co-author of this study, Ngan Huang, said: Space is a very unique environment that accelerates aging-related traits and damages many health processes. As space travel becomes more common and civilians have the opportunity to enter space, it is crucial to understand the muscle's response in the microgravity environment.
According to TapTechNews, this experiment utilized muscle chips that simulate the real muscle structure. The researchers sent these chips to the International Space Station for a one-week experiment by the astronauts. At the same time, Ngan Huang and his team conducted a control experiment on Earth to compare the effects of the microgravity environment in space and the normal aging process on Earth on the muscles.
The study shows that space travel changes the metabolic function of the muscles and weakens their regenerative ability. At the same time, gene activities related to muscle atrophy also appear, such as a decrease in the expression of genes related to mitochondrial function (the source of muscle energy), while the expression of genes related to adipogenesis increases. These findings further prove that the microgravity environment can damage the muscle's repair and regeneration ability.
The astronauts on the space station also injected two drugs used to repair damaged muscles and treat muscle atrophy respectively into the muscle chips. The study shows that the drug treatment partially prevented the metabolic transformation of muscles to fat and mitigated the negative impact brought by microgravity. Further analysis of the muscle gene activity after drug treatment also shows that it is more similar to the normal aging muscle on Earth.
This research result was published in the journal Stem Cell Reports on July 25th and may also provide a reference for the treatment of muscle atrophy on Earth.