Subhrajit Barua, ITMO University, St. Petersburg, Russia
Scientists have engineered mice to edit their muscle-bound genes in an attempt to see how human astronauts could be protected against large-scale muscle and bone density loss during long-duration space flights. After a brief stay on the International Space Station, the mice are now helping scientists to figure out possible ways to curb down muscle and bone density loss which is a big challenge to long-duration space missions.
Spending time in microgravity can have serious consequences on the muscle and bone density of astronauts. To counteract this, astronauts work-out for approximately two hours daily. Even after this heavy work-out regime, astronauts on-board the ISS can suffer from osteoporosis at a rate of 1.5 times faster than people on earth. In a study, it was estimated that astronauts in space can lose up to 40% of muscle mass in just 5 years!
According to this new research, the team used the so-called “mighty mice” which were genetically modified by targeting the gene coding for “myostatin”, a protein that inhibits the growth of muscle cells, resulting in the mice having two times greater muscle mass than an average lab mouse.
The team from the University of Connecticut, School of Medicine, and NASA, led by Se-Jin Lee, sent 40 mice aboard a rocket to the International Space Station in December 2019, where they lived for 33 days in microgravity. Twenty-four of them were normal lab mice, eight were genetically modified “mighty-mice” lacking the “myostatin” coding gene and the other eight were subjected to a drug that contained a molecule that suppresses the expression of both myostatin and activin A, which also regulated muscle mass and bone density.
Once the mice returned to Earth, they were analysed to investigate the amount of bone and muscle loss they faced during their short stay aboard the ISS, living alongside other astronauts. The normal lab mice lost a significant amount of muscle and bone, while the genetically modified “mighty-mice” retained most of its muscle mass during spaceflight. What’s interesting is, the mice which received the drug inhibiting myostatin and activin A saw a “dramatic increase” in both muscle mass and bone density.
The major finding of this study is that muscle mass and bone density loss in space can be regulated by targeting the signalling pathway of myostatin and activin A. This study also paves the road towards a drug that do the trick. Although, this is only an animal study, but it has chances of translating into humans. If such a thing actually happens, human spaceflight will have a new dawn in its history-making long-duration space flights, like a voyage to Mars, easier than ever before!
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References:
- Se-Jin Lee, Adam Lehar, Jessica U. Meir et al. Targeting myostatin/activin A protects against skeletal muscle and bone loss during spaceflight, doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2014716117
- Tom Hale. Genetically Engineered Ripped Mice Offer Clues to Maintaining Muscles In Space, https://www.iflscience.com/space/genetically-engineered-ripped-mice-offer-clues-to-maintaining-muscles-in-space/
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