Mitochondrial Changes Key to Human Health Problems in Space

Living in space is not easy. There are notable effects on the biology of living things in the harsh environment of space. A team of scientists has now identified a possible reason for these effects: the cell’s powerhouse, called mitochondria, experiences changes in activity during space travel.

Recently published in the magazine cellThese results used data collected over decades of experimental research on the International Space Station, including samples from 59 astronauts. Studies like this are critical to understanding the effects of low gravity, radiation, confined spaces, and more NASA sends astronauts deep into space for extended missions to the moon, Mars, and beyond.

“We found a universal mechanism that explains the kind of changes we see on the body in space and in a place we did not expect,” said Afshin Beheshti, the paper’s lead author and researcher at KBR, who provides Contract support for NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. “Everything is unbalanced and everything starts with the mitochondria.”

Valery Boyko, director of NASA’s GeneLab Sample Processing Lab, is setting up an automated liquid handling instrument to quantify the amount of sequencing material in a sample. Photo credit: NASA / Dominic Hart

The study also used a comprehensive database of animal studies collected on the GeneLab platform in Ames, as well as the NASA twin study, which compared identical twins Mark and Scott Kelly over the course of a year. The GeneLab platform is the first of its kind to collect large amounts of space biological “omics” data that can be used to characterize and quantify biological molecules – such as: DNA, RNAand proteins – and their systematic effects on the structures and functions of organisms. GeneLab’s analysis working group brought together scientists from around the world to collaborate on the study and make the most of the data contained on the open source platform.

Mitochondria are tiny structures in cells that produce energy for the basic units of biology that make up our body. When this energy production breaks down, many of the body’s most important organs and its immune system can be compromised. This new research shows that this breakdown of mitochondrial activity may contribute to health or performance issues that humans face in space.

The first clue about the link between mitochondria and space travel came from research on rodents.

“When we started comparing the tissues from mice flown on separate space missions, we found that mitochondrial dysfunction kept popping up,” said Beheshti. “Whether we were looking at problems in the eyes or in the liver, the same pathways related to mitochondria caused the problem.”

NASA’s data on humans supported this hypothesis. The changes in the immune system of astronaut Scott Kelly during his year in space starting in 2015 may also be explained by changes in the activity of his mitochondria. Blood and urine samples from dozens of other astronauts showed further evidence that being in space resulted in altered mitochondrial activity in different cell types.

“This is a big step in figuring out how our bodies can live healthy out of the world,” said Beheshti. “And the good news is that we can already address this problem. We can look at countermeasures and drugs that we are already using for mitochondrial diseases on Earth to see how they might work in space. ”

From topics as far-reaching as disrupted circadian rhythms to cardiovascular changes, scientists can now turn to this small but essential structure in cells to further research and find solutions. Mitochondria are indeed the powerhouse of the cell and can also drive the future of space biology research. They lead the way to discoveries that will help astronauts live safely in orbit and beyond.

Read new insights into the health effects of long-term spaceflight to learn more about how spaceflight affects astronauts.

Reference: The biology of space travel, cell.