Profiles & Overviews | Flight Hardware | Links
Key Research Questions
- What is the time course and extent of muscle atrophy during either prolonged space flight
or unloading?
- To what extent is muscle atrophy, structural change, and fiber type transformation
reversible and recoverable?
- What are the morphological, biochemical, and functional characteristics of space
flight-induced muscle changes?
Experiment/Mission Information
Experiment Information from the NASA Life Sciences Data Archive
Source: NASA Life Sciences Data Archive Format: HTML
Description: This link to the NASA Life Sciences Data Archive provides a list of
relevant descriptions of flight experiments investigating muscle physiology.
(Posted on 10/00)
Mission Information from the NASA Life Sciences Data Archive
Source: NASA Life Sciences Data Archive Format: HTML
Description: This link to the NASA Life Sciences Data Archive provides a list of
relevant descriptions of space flight missions that carried experiments investigating
muscle physiology.
(Posted on 10/00)
Profiles & Overviews
Muscle Atrophy & Clinical Applications
Source: Spaceline Format: PDF
Download the file (448 kb)
Description: Research has provided insights into causes of and treatments for muscle wasting in space that can be applied to various conditions on Earth. This article describes the experiments that led to development of a gene therapy/tissue engineering technique to deliver therapeutic proteins to reduce muscle wasting.
(Posted on 6/01)
Muscle Development
Source: Spaceline Format: PDF
Download the file (448 kb)
Description: Space-based research on muscle developments in rats has led to further understanding of molecular and genetic changes that accompany muscle wasting. While highlighting these investigations, this profile explains how these insights can help people avoid muscle wasting in space and on Earth.
(Posted on 6/01)
Muscle Fibers
Source: Spaceline Format: PDF
Download the file (192 kb)
Description: To help prevent muscle atrophy in space, exercise is critical. This article profiles the research into the cellular processes that cause muscles to weaken and the exercise regimes in development to enable astronauts to maintain muscle strength in space, which will be especially important for long-duration missions.
(Posted on 6/01)
Muscle Physiology Factsheet
Source: ASGSB Format: HTML
View the factsheet
Description: NASA-funded studies in muscle physiology have resulted in knowledge that benefits humans in space and on Earth. The ASGSB factsheet includes specific examples of research in areas such as muscle atrophy, development, and regeneration and how these findings have been or can be applied to muscle conditions on Earth.
(Posted on 6/01)
Pumping Iron
Source: NASA Format: HTML
View the factsheet
Description: Because muscles atrophy in space, astronauts return to Earth weaker than when they left. Current research, described in this article, is focusing on developing exercise regimes as countermeasures for long-duration space missions that are expected to have benefits on Earth as well.
(Posted on 07/04)
Recovery after Space Flight
Source: Spaceline Format: PDF
Download the file (444 kb)
Description: During space flight the energy balance (between calories consumed and burned) in crewmembers is disrupted due to less food intake compared to the activity required by their inflight exercise program. As explained in this article, muscle wasting may be linked, in part, to this energy deficit.
(Posted on 6/01)
Space Research Is Enhancing Our Understanding of the Control of Muscle and Movement and Aiding Patients with Spinal Cord Injuries
Source: Spaceline Format: PDF
Download the file (96 kb)
Description: This Space Life Sciences Research Highlights article discusses how space researchers are working to understand the way the nervous system controls muscle wasting, knowledge that could potentially help astronauts and people with spinal cord injuries.
(Posted on 04/05)
Why Do Workouts Work?
Source: Science@NASA Format: HTML
View the article
Description: This article describes how scientists are unlocking the secrets of muscle growth and atrophy and how these findings might be utilized to keep astronauts healthy and strong during extended stints in microgravity.
(Posted on 04/05)
Flight Hardware
Cosmos 2229 Neuromuscular Hardware
Source: NASA
Format: PDF
Download the file (84 kb)
Description: The Cosmos 2229 Neuromuscular Hardware, flown on the Bion 10/Cosmos 2229 mission, measured various neuromuscular functions in rhesus monkeys. (Excerpt from Life into Space 1991-1998) (Posted on 01/01)
Links
Follow these links to explore related sites in a new window
Musculoskeletal Biomechanics Lab
This site introduces the research projects at this Ames Research Center laboratory.
National Space Biomedical Research Institute
This site details the NSBRI's research projects in the area of muscle alterations and atrophy in microgravity.