BAIROCH@cgecmu51.bitnet (Amos Bairoch) (02/24/89)
The following message was poted on the SPACe conference on BITNET. As it
is relevant to Biomedical resarch I am forwaring it to BIONEWS.
Amos Bairoch
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Date: 16 Feb 89 22:08:12 GMT
From: yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: Cosmos mission results and future U.S./USSR missions announced
Paula Cleggett
Headquarters, Washington, D.C. February 16, 1989
C. J. Fenrick
Ames Research Center, Mountain View, Calif.
RELEASE: 89-18
COSMOS MISSION RESULTS AND FUTURE U.S./USSR MISSIONS ANNOUNCED
The science results of the collaborative U.S./USSR
biosatellite mission from Cosmos 1887 have confirmed the adverse
physiological and biomedical effects of prolonged space flight.
The analyzed mammalian biospecimens suggest that adolescent
vertebrate animals will experience significant alterations in
calcium metabolism, immune functions and musculoskeletal mass and
structure.
The Soviet Union launched Cosmos 1887 on Sept. 29, 1987, for
a 12-plus-day mission. Cosmos 1887 was the sixth in a series of
unmanned Soviet satellites that flew U.S. and USSR life sciences
experiments. This cooperative activity is being carried out
under the l987 U.S./USSR agreement concerning Cooperation in the
Exploration and Use of Outer Space for Peaceful Purposes.
The U.S. experiments on Cosmos 1887 investigated the effects
of space flight on the major body systems, including skeletal
bones and muscles, nervous system, heart, liver and several
glands and blood. Special tissue culture studies, using
pituitary cells, studied the growth hormone. Spleen and bone
marrow cells were used to investigate the effects of microgravity
on the immune system. The U.S. also had a radiation measurement
experiment on the spacecraft.
The Soviet experiments were developed and managed by the
Institute for Biomedical Problems, Moscow. The USSR provided the
U.S. tissue samples from 5 of 10 rats that were flown aboard the
spacecraft.
The majority of the scientific specimens were returned to
the U.S. in late October 1987 and distributed to the scientific
teams around the country. The remainder of the biosamples
arrived at NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountian View, Calif.,
for analysis in early November.
The science results of Cosmos 1887 bone studies indicated
structural changes occurred without significant changes in the
mineral content. For example, the bending strength of the rat
humerus bone was decreased by 40 percent and the compression
strength of the lumbar vertebra was decreased by 27 percent.
Muscle studies on the rats showed that, while individual
muscle weights were similar for both flight and ground control
animal groups, the fast muscle types showed significant decrease
in cross-sectional area, atrophy and extracellular edema, while
at the same time showing increased necrotic fibers and motor end
plate degradation. Slow muscle types showed little evidence of
atrophy but some biochemical changes. The mitochondria in the
heart muscle also showed degeneration and fiber changes.
Observations on other body organs and physiological systems
confirmed what was learned on previous flight research
experiments, such as a decreased mass and spermatogenesis in the
testes, decreased growth hormone release by the anterior
pituitary cells, increased cholesterol, triglycerides and organ
weight in the liver and a reduced immune response suggested by
several types of measures involving the spleen, bone marrow and
blood.
The U.S. Space Biology and Medicine Program has received
many benefits from scientific cooperation with the USSR,
including the opportunity to conduct experiments on the
physiological effects of 12-plus-days of space flight on rats and
rhesus monkeys. This length of the Cosmos missions is
approximately twice the exposure time in microgravity that is
presently experienced in U.S. Spacelab flights on the Shuttle.
While a comparable 8-day U.S. mission with rats is expected
to fly in mid-1990, a U.S. mission with rhesus monkeys is not
expected until late 1992 or 1993. These early Cosmos flights
serve as a testbed for the development of U.S. scientific
experiments, technology and flight hardware. In addition, both
sides benefit from the sharing of research data in all areas of
space biology and medicine.
The U.S. has three opportunities to fly experiments with the
Soviets in the next few years. The USSR has invited the U.S. to
participate on the USSR 1989 and 1991 biosatellite missions.
The science focus will be in biomedical research with the
following payload specimens: Rhesus monkeys, male wistar rats,
fish, fish eggs, newts, drosophila, beetles, seeds, unicellular
organism and planaria.
In reciprocal fashion, Soviet scientists have been invited
to participate in analysis of specimens from the U.S. Shuttle
Spacelab life sciences mission to be launched in June 1990.