Brain and Behavioral Evidence for Reweighting of Vestibular Inputs with Long-Duration Spaceflight.

ABSTRACT: Microgravity alters vestibular signaling. In-flight adaptation to altered vestibular afferents is reflected in post-spaceflight aftereffects, evidenced by declines in vestibularly mediated behaviors (e.g., walking/standing balance), until readaptation to Earth's 1G environment occurs. Here we examine how spaceflight affects neural processing of applied vestibular stimulation. We used fMRI to measure brain activity in response to vestibular stimulation in 15 astronauts pre- and post-spaceflight. We also measured vestibularly-mediated behaviors, including balance, mobility, and rod-and-frame test performance. Data were collected twice preflight and four times postflight. As expected, vestibular stimulation at the preflight sessions elicited activation of the parietal opercular area ("vestibu

SUBMITTER: Hupfeld KE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8841601 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature