Sun Gwo-Shing, Tou Janet C, Yu Diane, Girten Beverly E, Cohen Jacob
Lockheed Martin Exploration and Science, Moffett Field, CA, USA.
Division of Animal and Nutritional Sciences, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA.
Nutrition. 2014 Feb;30(2):125-30. doi: 10.1016/j.nut.2013.04.005. Epub 2013 Sep 4.
Rodents have been the most frequently flown animal model used to study physiological responses to the space environment. In support of future of space exploration, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) envisions an animal research program focused on rodents. Therefore, the development of a rodent diet that is suitable for the spaceflight environment including long duration spaceflight is a high priority. Recognizing the importance of nutrition in affecting spaceflight physiological responses and ensuring reliable biomedical and biological science return, NASA developed the nutrient-upgraded rodent food bar (NuRFB) as a standard diet for rodent spaceflight. Depending on future animal habitat hardware and planned spaceflight experiments, modification of the NuRFB or development of a new diet formulation may be needed, particularly for long term spaceflights. Research in this area consists primarily of internal technical reports that are not readily accessible. Therefore, the aims of this contribution are to provide a brief history of the development of rodent spaceflight diets, to review the present diet used in rodent spaceflight studies, and to discuss some of the challenges and potential solutions for diets to be used in future long-term rodent spaceflight studies.
啮齿动物一直是用于研究对太空环境生理反应的最常用飞行动物模型。为支持未来的太空探索，美国国家航空航天局（NASA）设想了一个以啮齿动物为重点的动物研究计划。因此，开发一种适合包括长时间太空飞行在内的太空飞行环境的啮齿动物饮食是当务之急。认识到营养在影响太空飞行生理反应以及确保可靠的生物医学和生物学科学回报方面的重要性，NASA开发了营养升级啮齿动物食物棒（NuRFB）作为啮齿动物太空飞行的标准饮食。根据未来的动物栖息地硬件和计划中的太空飞行实验，可能需要对NuRFB进行修改或开发新的饮食配方，特别是对于长期太空飞行。该领域的研究主要包括不易获取的内部技术报告。因此，本论文的目的是简要介绍啮齿动物太空飞行饮食的发展历程，回顾目前在啮齿动物太空飞行研究中使用的饮食，并讨论未来长期啮齿动物太空飞行研究中饮食面临的一些挑战和潜在解决方案。
