1/5/2024 0 Comments No gravity on earthHow has the information from gravity sensors (such as the inner ear) been reinterpreted? Has nervous control of the circulation been altered? How have circadian rhythms been affected? What neural plasticity is there and how does it work? Now days we have answers to most of those questions. Initially the countermeasures applied to counteract this deconditioning included: cardiovascular training, lower body negative pressure, fluid volume loading, muscle and bone loading and vestibular challenges 9. Even short term exposure to microgravity resulted in significant deconditioning of the musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, and vestibular systems 2 – 8. The primary physiological responses to spaceflight included fluid shifts, repositioning of certain organs or organelles, unloading of the cardiovascular system and support structures, and lack of stimulus to the gravity sensors. Many of these symptoms reflect major underlying changes in the nervous system. Standing upright after spaceflight can be difficult due both to labile blood pressure and unstable posture. Crewmembers return with difficulties in maintaining balance. Motion sickness remains a significant, but now partly treatable, problem in flight. But still even after all those years of Space research the physiologic challenges of spaceflight remain unchanged. Early experiments have focused on developing the apparatus and techniques for processing biological substances.Īll the experiments performed in microgravity may have benefits on Earth especially for those people on the ground whose problems with balance, sleep, loss of muscle tone and loss of bone density are remarkably similar to those experienced by astronauts returning from their missions. It is closely related to understanding how cells function in gravity since many of these cells make useful products. This led to a new discipline of growing importance, Bioprocessing in Space. Applying terrestrial diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to illness in Space may be problematic when not only the underlying physiology differs in microgravity it is likely that the pathophysiology of certain diseases may differ as well. Space medicine is currently entering an evolutionary phase of incorporating the understanding of the physiological changes associated with human space flight into the prevention, diagnosis and therapy of illness and injury in Space. The expansion of human space flight to low earth orbit and beyond over the past forty years has provided a challenge to clinicians responsible for the health and safety of astronauts. So what is the role of gravity in biological, chemical, and physical systems? If gravity causes changes to biology, then it must be a major physical environmental force shaping life on Earth 1.Īccess to Space, has made it possible for us to begin the exploration of how gravity has influenced our evolution, our genetic make-up and our physiology. Weight drives many chemical, biological, and ecological processes on Earth. Gravitational loading is directional toward the centre of the Earth and acts on all masses at the Earth's surface defining the weight of each object. Its intensity and direction have been constant throughout evolutionary history on Earth, making it difficult to understand what role, may have on life. Gravity is a physical force well-known, but not well understood. These, changes in lifestyle or pathologies caused by various types of injury can benefit as well from artificial gravity in much the same way as we are now considering for astronauts in space. Here on earth, although surrounded by gravity we are negligent in using gravity as it was intended, to maintain the level of health that is appropriate to living in 1G. Identifying the thresholds at which each body system perceives, how much, how often, how long the gravity stimulus is needed and in which direction should it be presented for maximum effectiveness, is fundamental knowledge required for using artificial gravity as a therapeutic or maintenance countermeasure treatment in exploration missions. Access to space has made it possible for us to begin the exploration of how gravity has influenced our evolution, our genetic make-up and our physiology. The traditional scientific approach of investigating the role of a variable on a living organism is to remove it or the ability of the organism to sense it.
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