Capri Miriam, Montano Nicola, Piccirillo Sara, Narici Marco, Ferranti Francesca, Maccarrone Mauro
DIMEC- Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Interdepartmental Centre-Alma Mater Research Institute on Global Challenges and Climate Change, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
NPJ Microgravity. 2025 Sep 26;11(1):66. doi: 10.1038/s41526-025-00487-8.
Spaceflight missions represent a new exposome, unpredicted by evolution. Life-threatening agents activate non-specific stress responses involving the psycho-immune-neuroendocrine network. The main molecular pathways regulating this network and those affected by spaceflight exposome/microgravity are reported in various experimental setups. They include gut microbiota-derived metabolites, potentially valuable for countermeasure development. Meaningfully, the application of neuromodulation techniques, like the non-invasive transcutaneous vagal stimulation, for the prevention of pathophysiological alterations related to stress responses, is discussed.