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Operation of a programmable microfluidic organic analyzer under microgravity conditions simulating space flight environments.

ABSTRACT: A programmable microfluidic organic analyzer was developed for detecting life signatures beyond Earth and clinical monitoring of astronaut health. Extensive environmental tests, including various gravitational environments, are required to confirm the functionality of this analyzer and advance its overall Technology Readiness Level. This work examines how the programmable microfluidic analyzer performed under simulated Lunar, Martian, zero, and hypergravity conditions during a parabolic flight. We confirmed that the functionality of the programmable microfluidic analyzer was minimally affected by the significant changes in the gravitational field, thus paving the way for its use in a variety of space mission opportunities.

SUBMITTER: Estlack Z

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10247770 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Operation of a programmable microfluidic organic analyzer under microgravity conditions simulating space flight environments.

Estlack Zachary Z Golozar Matin M Butterworth Anna L AL Mathies Richard A RA Kim Jungkyu J

NPJ microgravity 20230608 1

A programmable microfluidic organic analyzer was developed for detecting life signatures beyond Earth and clinical monitoring of astronaut health. Extensive environmental tests, including various gravitational environments, are required to confirm the functionality of this analyzer and advance its overall Technology Readiness Level. This work examines how the programmable microfluidic analyzer performed under simulated Lunar, Martian, zero, and hypergravity conditions during a parabolic flight. ...[more]

PMID: 37286631

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Project description:In previous studies, we examined the effects of space microgravity on human neural stem cells. To date, there are no studies on a different type of cell that is critical for myelination and electrical signals transmission, oligodendrocyte progenitors (OLPs). The purpose of the present study was to examine the behavior of space-flown OLPs (SPC-OLPs) as they were adapting to Earth's gravity. We found that SPC-OLPs survived, and most of them proliferated normally. Nonetheless, some of them displayed incomplete cytokinesis. Both morphological and ontogenetic analyses showed that they remained healthy and expressed the immature OLP markers Sox2, PDGFR-α, and transferrin (Tf) after space flight, which confirmed that SPC-OLPs displayed a more immature phenotype than their ground control (GC) counterparts. In contrast, GC OLPs expressed markers that usually appear later (GPDH, O4, and ferritin), indicating a delay in SPC-OLPs' development. These cells remained immature even after treatment with culture media designed to support oligodendrocyte (OL) maturation. The most remarkable and surprising finding was that the iron carrier glycoprotein Tf, previously described as an early marker for OLPs, was expressed ectopically in the nucleus of all SPC-OLPs. In contrast, their GC counterparts expressed it exclusively in the cytoplasm, as previously described. In addition, analysis of the secretome demonstrated that SPC-OLPs contained 3.5 times more Tf than that of GC cells, indicating that Tf is gravitationally regulated, opening two main fields of study to understand the upregulation of the Tf gene and secretion of the protein that keep OLPs at a progenitor stage rather than moving forward to more mature phenotypes. Alternatively, because Tf is an autocrine and paracrine factor in the central nervous system (CNS), in the absence of neurons, it accumulated in the secretome collected after space flight. We conclude that microgravity is becoming a novel platform to study why in some myelin disorders OLPs are present but do not mature.

Dataset Information

Operation of a programmable microfluidic organic analyzer under microgravity conditions simulating space flight environments.

Publications

Operation of a programmable microfluidic organic analyzer under microgravity conditions simulating space flight environments.

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