Laranjeiro Ricardo, Harinath Girish, Pollard Amelia K, Gaffney Christopher J, Deane Colleen S, Vanapalli Siva A, Etheridge Timothy, Szewczyk Nathaniel J, Driscoll Monica
Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA.
MRC Versus Arthritis Centre for Musculoskeletal Ageing Research and NIHR Nottingham BRC, University of Nottingham, Medical School Royal Derby Hospital, Derby, DE22 3DT, UK.
iScience. 2021 Jan 29;24(2):102105. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102105. eCollection 2021 Feb 19.
Extended space travel is a goal of government space agencies and private companies. However, spaceflight poses risks to human health, and the effects on the nervous system have to be better characterized. Here, we exploited the unique experimental advantages of the nematode to explore how spaceflight affects adult neurons . We found that animals that lived 5 days of adulthood on the International Space Station exhibited hyperbranching in PVD and touch receptor neurons. We also found that, in the presence of a neuronal proteotoxic stress, spaceflight promotes a remarkable accumulation of neuronal-derived waste in the surrounding tissues, suggesting an impaired transcellular degradation of debris released from neurons. Our data reveal that spaceflight can significantly affect adult neuronal morphology and clearance of neuronal trash, highlighting the need to carefully assess the risks of long-duration spaceflight on the nervous system and to develop adequate countermeasures for safe space exploration.
长期太空旅行是政府太空机构和私人公司的目标。然而，太空飞行对人类健康构成风险，其对神经系统的影响必须得到更好的描述。在这里，我们利用线虫独特的实验优势来探索太空飞行如何影响成年神经元。我们发现，在国际空间站度过5天成年期的动物，其PVD和触觉受体神经元出现了过度分支。我们还发现，在存在神经元蛋白毒性应激的情况下，太空飞行会促进神经元衍生废物在周围组织中的显著积累，这表明从神经元释放的碎片的跨细胞降解受损。我们的数据表明，太空飞行会显著影响成年神经元的形态和神经元垃圾的清除，凸显了仔细评估长期太空飞行对神经系统风险以及制定适当的安全太空探索应对措施的必要性。
