Body composition and metabolic changes during a 520-day mission simulation to Mars

Abstract

Based on these data, countermeasures may be envisioned to balance the potentially harmful effects of prolonged confinement, including a better exercise program, with accurate monitoring of (1) the individual activity and (2) the relationship between body composition and metabolic derangement.

Multi-System Adaptation to Confinement During the 180-Day Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) Experiment

“…Concerning glucose metabolism , insulin and HOMA-IR tended (non-significantly) to increase beginning with M2, and glucose increased beginning with the end of the first year of confinement (M8–M13). Moderate insulin resistance in the second half of Mars-520 was probably partly due to skeletal muscle deconditioning and partly to isolation itself, similar to that observed in people living in polar regions (Strollo et al, 2018). Conversely, in our CELSS, glucose intolerance was not observed.…”

“…It is known that some individuals are more predisposed to physical or psychological strain, depending on prior experience of coping with similar difficult circumstances (beneficial in critical situations), character and emotional traits, or genetic predisposition (Pagel and Choukèr, 2016). Interestingly, some Mars-520 participants also showed larger shifts in body weight (-21 kg vs. -1 to -11 kg for five other subjects, Strollo et al, 2018) and sleep-wake cycle (Pagel and Choukèr, 2016).…”

“…Another study investigating long-term confinement effects during simulated spaceflight to Mars was the Mars500 project with Mars-105 pilot study (Gemignani et al, 2014) and Mars-520 main study (Basner et al, 2014; Jacubowski et al, 2015; Gaffney et al, 2017; Strollo et al, 2018). This joint project of Russian, European and Chinese space agencies, conducted at the Institute of Biomedical Problems in Moscow, aimed to investigate the effects of long-term confinement in a group of six volunteers during a spaceflight simulation to Mars in a 550-m 3 habitat with four interconnected modules.…”

“…Ground analogs seek to reproduce the elements of anticipated mission. Thus, HUBES (Larina et al, 1997) (“Human Behavior in Extended Spaceflights,” 135-day isolation in a Mir station model, n = 3) imitated the Euromir-95 mission, SFINCSS-99 (Custaud et al, 2004) (“Simulation of Flight of International Crew on Space Station,” group 1 with n = 4 confined for 240 days in 100 m 3 , groups 2 and 3 with n = 4 each confined one after another for 110 days in 200 m 3 ) simulated the assembly phase of the ISS program, Mars500 program [550 m 3 with the Mars-105 pilot study (Gemignani et al, 2014), n = 6, and Mars-520 main study (Basner et al, 2014; Gushchin et al, 2014; Jacubowski et al, 2015; Gaffney et al, 2017; Strollo et al, 2018), n = 6, module contained an experimental greenhouse but was not designed as a bioregenerative CELSS – with working surface of vegetable greenhouse of only 1.65 m × 0.8 m, food and other consumables were placed inside prior to isolation; water and air were only partially regenerated] modeled spaceflight to Mars. These experiments require considerable work and resources and remain exceptional.…”

Effect of Unloading Condition on the Healing Process and Effectiveness of Platelet Rich Plasma as a Countermeasure: Study on In Vivo and In Vitro Wound Healing Models

“…In astronauts, deficient immune function, signs of chronic inflammation, metabolic alterations, and skin atrophy have been observed [33][34][35], and could affect the efficiency of tissue repair mechanisms.…”