Dataset Information

Assessing the effects of artificial gravity in an analog of long-duration spaceflight: The protocol and implementation of the AGBRESA bed rest study.

ABSTRACT: A comprehensive strategy is required to mitigate risks to astronauts' health, well-being, and performance. This strategy includes developing countermeasures to prevent or reduce adverse responses to the stressors astronauts encounter during spaceflight, such as weightlessness. Because artificial gravity (AG) by centrifugation simultaneously affects all physiological systems, AG could mitigate the effects of weightlessness in multiple systems. In 2019, NASA and the German Aerospace Center conducted a 60-days Artificial Gravity Bed Rest Study with the European Space Agency (AGBRESA). The objectives of this study were to 1) determine if 30 min of AG daily is protective during head down bed rest, and 2) compare the protective effects of a single daily bout (30 min) of AG versus multiple daily bouts (6 × 5 min) of AG (1 Gz at the center of mass) on physiological functions that are affected by weightlessness and by head-down tilt bed rest. The AGBRESA study involved a comprehensive suite of standard and innovative technologies to characterize changes in a broad spectrum of physiological systems. The current article is intended to provide a detailed overview of the methods used during AGBRESA.

SUBMITTER: Clement G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9492851 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Assessing the effects of artificial gravity in an analog of long-duration spaceflight: The protocol and implementation of the AGBRESA bed rest study.

Clément Gilles G Rittweger Jörn J Nitsche Andrea A Doering Wolfgang W Frings-Meuthen Petra P Hand Olga O Frett Timo T Noppe Alexandra A Paulke Freia F Lecheler Leopold L Jordan Jens J Stern Claudia C Mulder Edwin E

Frontiers in physiology 20220908

A comprehensive strategy is required to mitigate risks to astronauts' health, well-being, and performance. This strategy includes developing countermeasures to prevent or reduce adverse responses to the stressors astronauts encounter during spaceflight, such as weightlessness. Because artificial gravity (AG) by centrifugation simultaneously affects all physiological systems, AG could mitigate the effects of weightlessness in multiple systems. In 2019, NASA and the German Aerospace Center conduct ...[more]

PMID: 36160844

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Project description:INTRODUCTION:Exposure to microgravity causes alterations in multiple physiological systems, potentially impacting the ability of astronauts to perform critical mission tasks. The goal of this study was to determine the effects of spaceflight on functional task performance and to identify the key physiological factors contributing to their deficits. METHODS:A test battery comprised of seven functional tests and 15 physiological measures was used to investigate the sensorimotor, cardiovascular, and neuromuscular adaptations to spaceflight. Astronauts were tested before and after 6-month spaceflights. Subjects were also tested before and after 70 d of 6° head-down bed rest, a spaceflight analog, to examine the role of axial body unloading on the spaceflight results. These subjects included control and exercise groups to examine the effects of exercise during bed rest. RESULTS:Spaceflight subjects showed the greatest decrement in performance during functional tasks that required the greatest demand for dynamic control of postural equilibrium which was paralleled by similar decrements in sensorimotor tests that assessed postural and dynamic gait control. Other changes included reduced lower limb muscle performance and increased HR to maintain blood pressure. Exercise performed during bed rest prevented detrimental change in neuromuscular and cardiovascular function; however, both bed rest groups experienced functional and balance deficits similar to spaceflight subjects. CONCLUSION:Bed rest data indicate that body support unloading experienced during spaceflight contributes to postflight postural control dysfunction. Further, the bed rest results in the exercise group of subjects confirm that resistance and aerobic exercises performed during spaceflight can play an integral role in maintaining neuromuscular and cardiovascular functions, which can help in reducing decrements in functional performance. These results indicate that a countermeasure to mitigate postflight postural control dysfunction is required to maintain functional performance.

Project description:Long duration head down tilt bed rest (HDBR) has been widely used as a spaceflight analog environment to understand the effects of microgravity on human physiology and performance. Reports have indicated that crewmembers onboard the International Space Station (ISS) experience symptoms of elevated CO2 such as headaches at lower levels of CO2 than levels at which symptoms begin to appear on Earth. This suggests there may be combinatorial effects of elevated CO2 and the other physiological effects of microgravity including headward fluid shifts and body unloading. The purpose of the current study was to investigate these effects by evaluating the impact of 30 days of 6° HDBR and 0.5% CO2 (HDBR + CO2) on mission relevant cognitive and sensorimotor performance. We found a facilitation of processing speed and a decrement in functional mobility for subjects undergoing HDBR + CO2 relative to our previous study of HDBR in ambient air. In addition, nearly half of the participants in this study developed signs of Spaceflight Associated Neuro-ocular Syndrome (SANS), a constellation of ocular structural and functional changes seen in approximately one third of long duration astronauts. This allowed us the unique opportunity to compare the two subgroups. We found that participants who exhibited signs of SANS became more visually dependent and shifted their speed-accuracy tradeoff, such that they were slower but more accurate than those that did not incur ocular changes. These small subgroup findings suggest that SANS may have an impact on mission relevant performance inflight via sensory reweighting.New and noteworthyWe examined the effects of long duration head down tilt bed rest coupled with elevated CO2 as a spaceflight analog environment on human cognitive and sensorimotor performance. We found enhancements in processing speed and declines in functional mobility. A subset of participants exhibited signs of Spaceflight Associated Neuro-ocular Syndrome (SANS), which affects approximately one in three astronauts. These individuals increased their visual reliance throughout the intervention in comparison to participants who did not show signs of SANS.

Project description:Environmental and psychological stressors can adversely affect astronaut cognitive performance in space. This study used a 6° head-down tilt bed rest (HDBR) paradigm to simulate some of the physiologic changes induced by microgravity. Twenty-four participants (mean ± SD age 33.3 ± 9.2 years, N = 16 men) spent 60 consecutive days in strict HDBR. They were studied in three groups of eight subjects each. One group served as Control, whereas the other two groups received either a continuous or intermittent artificial gravity (AG) countermeasure of 30 min centrifugation daily (1 g acceleration at the center of mass and 2 g at the feet). Participants performed all 10 tests of NASA's Cognition battery and a brief alertness and mood survey repeatedly before, during, and after the HDBR period. Test scores were adjusted for practice and stimulus set difficulty effects. A modest but statistically significant slowing across a range of cognitive domains was found in all three groups during HDBR compared to baseline, most consistently for sensorimotor speed, whereas accuracy was unaffected. These changes were observed early during HDBR and did not further worsen or improve with increasing time in HDBR, except for emotion recognition performance. With increasing time spent in HDBR, participants required longer time to decide which facial emotion was expressed. They were also more likely to select categories with negative valence over categories with neutral or positive valence. Except for workload, which was rated lower in the Control group, continuous or intermittent AG did not modify the effect of HDBR on cognitive performance or subjective responses. Participants expressed several negative survey responses during HDBR relative to baseline, and some of the responses further deteriorated during recovery, which highlights the importance of adequate medical and psychological support during extended duration HDBR studies. In conclusion, 60 days of HDBR were associated with moderate cognitive slowing and changes in emotion recognition performance, but these effects were not mitigated by either continuous or intermittent exposure to AG for 30 min daily.

Dataset Information

Assessing the effects of artificial gravity in an analog of long-duration spaceflight: The protocol and implementation of the AGBRESA bed rest study.

Publications

Assessing the effects of artificial gravity in an analog of long-duration spaceflight: The protocol and implementation of the AGBRESA bed rest study.

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