Osteoporosis caused by exposure to microgravity represents a serious clinical concern, but the mechanisms have yet to be fully elucidated. The present research aimed to elucidate the effects of microgravity environments on bone turnover, with a specific focus on changes in bone resorption markers such as type I collagen cross-linked N-telopeptides (NTx) and deoxypyridinoline (Dpyr), for which scant data are available regarding detailed time course. Methods using 6 degrees head-down bed rest were utilized to simulate a microgravity environment. Eleven adult male volunteers underwent 6 degrees head-down bed rest for 14 days; measurements were made of serum and urine Ca concentrations, in addition to osteocalcin (OC), bone alkaline phosphatase (ALP), NTx, and Dpyr as bone turnover markers. By the end of bed rest, concentrations of bone ALP had significantly increased, but OC displayed a tendency toward decrease. Concentrations of Dpyr significantly increased from day 6, remaining elevated until the end of bed rest. Concentrations of NTx significantly increased on day 13 and at the end of bed rest. Serum and urinary concentrations of Ca increased significantly at the end of bed rest. Bone ALP represents a relatively early marker of osteoblast differentiation at the matrix maturation phase and OC is a late marker in osteoblast differentiation at the calcification phase. The present results therefore suggest an absolute increase in bone resorption and normal or reduced bone formation, together causing prominent uncoupling and rapid bone loss after simulated microgravity. Moreover, the present results suggest that bone resorption is enhanced at an early stage of exposure to microgravity environments.

An intermittent exposure to artificial hypergravity with physical exercise by a human centrifuge may provide a countermeasure against various physiological problems after space flight. To test the effects of hypergravity with ergometric exercise on dynamic regulation of heart rate during weightlessness, we quantified autonomic cardiovascular control before and after head-down-tilt bed rest (HDBR) with and without the countermeasure. Twelve male subjects underwent a 14-day period of HDBR. Six of them were exposed to a hypergravity (+1.2 Gz acceleration at heart level) for 30 min with ergometric exercise (60 W, n=4; 40 W, n=2) as a countermeasure on day 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13 and 14, during HDBR (CM group). The remaining six were not exposed to a hypergravity exercise during HDBR (control group). Blood pressure and ECG were recorded at a supine position before and after HDBR. The high frequency power of R-R interval (HFRR; 1,008+/-238 to 353+/-56 ms(2) P<0.05) as an index of cardiac parasympathetic activity, and transfer function gain between BP and R-R interval in the high frequency range (GainHF; 21.9+/-5.4 to 14.5+/-4.2 ms/mmHg, P<0.01) as an index of vagally mediated arterial-cardiac baroreflex, decreased significantly after HDBR in the control group. However, these changes were not statistically significant in the CM group (HFRR, 1,150+/-344 to 768+/-385 ms(2); GainHF, 21.5+/-3.3 to 18.6+/-3.4 ms/mmHg). Moreover, baroreflex gain by sequence analysis showed similar results. This observation suggests that the intermittent exposure to hypergravity with ergometric exercise may attenuate the decreases in the parasympathetic activity and the spontaneous arterial-cardiac baroreflex function after weightlessness.

Although spaceflight and bed rest are known to cause muscular atrophy in the antigravity muscles of the legs, the changes in sympathetic and cardiovascular responses to exercises using the atrophied muscles remain unknown. We hypothesized that bed rest would augment sympathetic responses to isometric exercise using antigravity leg muscles in humans. Ten healthy male volunteers were subjected to 14-day 6 degrees head-down bed rest. Before and after bed rest, they performed isometric exercises using leg (plantar flexion) and forearm (handgrip) muscles, followed by 2-min postexercise muscle ischemia (PEMI) that continues to stimulate the muscle metaboreflex. These exercises were sustained to fatigue. We measured muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) in the contralateral resting leg by microneurography. In both pre- and post-bed-rest exercise tests, exercise intensities were set at 30 and 70% of the maximum voluntary force measured before bed rest. Bed rest attenuated the increase in MSNA in response to fatiguing plantar flexion by approximately 70% at both exercise intensities (both P < 0.05 vs. before bed rest) and reduced the maximal voluntary force of plantar flexion by 15%. In contrast, bed rest did not alter the increase in MSNA response to fatiguing handgrip and had no effects on the maximal voluntary force of handgrip. Although PEMI sustained MSNA activation before bed rest in all trials, bed rest entirely eliminated the PEMI-induced increase in MSNA in leg exercises but partially attenuated it in forearm exercises. These results do not support our hypothesis but indicate that bed rest causes a reduction in isometric exercise-induced sympathetic activation in (probably atrophied) antigravity leg muscles.

Measurement of train driver's brain activity by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) t a k a s h i k o j i m a 1 , h i t o s h i t s u n a s h i m a 2, * , t o m o k i s h i o z a wa 3 , h i r o k i t a k a d a 3 a n d t a k u j i s a k a i 2 Abstract. This paper describes development of a train simulator for human factors, and application of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to estimation of drivers' brain activities during train operation. One of the characteristics of train operation is that the driving tasks tend to be more monotonous than automobile driving. Therefore, train drivers are more strongly urged to avoid human errors. In order to avoid human errors in train operation, it is considered that driving support systems or the like should be developed in consideration of human properties. In developing such systems, it is necessary to identify the relation between train operation and brain activity of the driver. A train simulator designed to evaluate the human factors was developed and cerebral blood flow during train operation was measured using fNIRS. The experiment confirms the difference in drivers' brain activities between manual and automatic operations. The results suggest that fNIRS can observe brain activation caused by train operation.

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