Space travel doesn't affect the strength of heart muscle cells, study finds

A study from the University of Chicago and the University of Nebraska found that heart muscle cells from mice that spent 38.5 days on the International Space Station did not show any significant decrease in strength compared to control mice that remained on Earth. The researchers tested the sarcomeres, the molecular motors in heart cells, and found no major differences in the proteins that make up these motors. This suggests that heart cells would continue functioning well during long space missions. The study was published in the journal npj Microgravity.

The research team analyzed heart cells from five mice that spent 38.5 days on the space station, focusing on their sarcomeres. The results showed that the contracting force of these motors was just as strong as in control mice. The study also found no major differences in the proteins that make up the sarcomeres between space mice and their Earth-bound counterparts. This is promising news for astronauts on long missions, as NASA considers longer missions back to the moon and potentially to Mars.

The study was conducted by UChicago associate professor Jonathan Kirk and his colleagues. The researchers used a small sample of mice that had been in space for a relatively short period in human terms. They also studied tissues that were collected while on the space station instead of from animals that returned to Earth, to rule out the effects of stress from the trip back home. The study showed that the heart cells in space mice did not show any significant decrease in strength, and the researchers are interested in studying mice that had been in space longer to see if that increases over time. The study also found some traces of inflammation in the heart cells, and the researchers would like to study those tissues to see if that increases over time. The study is part of a broader effort to understand the effects of space travel on the human body, particularly on the heart.

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