Why astronauts' immune systems don't work well in space | Albuquerque Express

Why astronauts' immune systems don't work well in space

Albuquerque Express (ANI) Wednesday 9th May, 2012

Astronauts suffer from several types of stress while adapting to weightlessness in space.

For years, scientists have known that our immune system works less well in space, and trying to find the reason is a driving force for space research.

Researchers at the University of Teramo, the European Centre for Brain Research and the Santa Lucia Foundation have discovered that a particular enzyme, called 5-LOX, becomes more active in weightlessness.

The 5-LOX enzyme in part regulates the life expectancy of human cells. Most human cells divide and regenerate but the number of times they replicate is limited.

To find out if a change in 5-LOX enzyme activity could affect astronauts' health in space, the researchers needed to test their theory in the only laboratory that can 'switch off' gravity: the International Space Station.

Blood samples from two healthy donors were sent to the orbital outpost. One set was exposed to weightlessness for two days, while the other was held in a small centrifuge to simulate Earth-like gravity. The samples were then frozen and sent back to Earth for analysis.

As predicted, the weightless samples showed more 5-LOX activity than the centrifuged samples and a set that had remained on the ground.

Page 1 of 2 | Next