Vestibular and Sensorimotor Dysfunction During Space Flight

Reschke, Millard F.; Clément, Gilles

doi:10.1007/s40139-018-0173-y

Cited by 26 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 61 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Weightlessness also affects the vestibular system, which goes beyond maintaining gaze and postural stabilization. Acute exposure to weightlessness and transitions between gravity levels significantly challenge the integration of neuro-vestibular signaling, associated with motion sickness and alterations in spatial abilities and sensorimotor functioning (Reschke and Clément 2018 ). Otoliths, graviceptors in the inner ear, rely on information from linear acceleration, and therefore cannot respond to tilt when gravity is lacking.…”

Section: Environmental Stressors Hippocampal Plasticity and Spatial Cognitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Brains in space: the importance of understanding the impact of long-duration spaceflight on spatial cognition and its neural circuitry

Stahn

Kühn

2021

Cogn Process

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Fifty years after the first humans stepped on the Moon, space faring nations have entered a new era of space exploration. NASA’s reference mission to Mars is expected to comprise 1100 days. Deep space exploratory class missions could even span decades. They will be the most challenging and dangerous expeditions in the history of human spaceflight and will expose crew members to unprecedented health and performance risks. The development of adverse cognitive or behavioral conditions and psychiatric disorders during those missions is considered a critical and unmitigated risk factor. Here, we argue that spatial cognition, i.e., the ability to encode representations about self-to-object relations and integrate this information into a spatial map of the environment, and their neural bases will be highly vulnerable during those expeditions. Empirical evidence from animal studies shows that social isolation, immobilization, and altered gravity can have profound effects on brain plasticity associated with spatial navigation. We provide examples from historic spaceflight missions, spaceflight analogs, and extreme environments suggesting that spatial cognition and its neural circuitry could be impaired during long-duration spaceflight, and identify recommendations and future steps to mitigate these risks.

show abstract

Section: Environmental Stressors Hippocampal Plasticity and Spatial Cognitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Brains in space: the importance of understanding the impact of long-duration spaceflight on spatial cognition and its neural circuitry

Stahn

Kühn

2021

Cogn Process

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Tras estas alteraciones se producen: desorientación, desequilibrio postural, descoordinación de los movimientos, disfunción propioceptiva y alteración en el control de movimientos oculares (36,39) . En vuelos espaciales de larga duración los otolitos se adaptan remodelando su estructura histológica, igualmente la sustancia gris en el cerebelo y en áreas sensorio motores del cerebro aumenta de espesor mejorando el control en los miembros inferiores (40) .…”

Section: Sistema Nervioso Y Vestibularunclassified

Medicina humana espacial: Performance fisiológico y contramedidas para mejorar la salud del astronauta

Rivera¹,

Cornejo²,

Huallpayunca³

et al. 2020

RFMH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This Review Article is presented based on current scientific evidence on space medicine focused on human physiology and its countermeasures. Therefore, a non-systematic bibliographic search of scientific articles and research books in English-Spanish of the last 7 years was carried out, detailing their application in humans, murine models and in vitro experiments. The conditions of the space environment such as microgravity and radiation that produce considerable physiological changes in the cardiovascular system (redistribution of fluids, cardiovascular remodeling, arrhythmias) were taken into account; nervous (sensorimotor, neurosensory, neurovestibular); respiratory (volume and capacity changes); renal (lithiasis); musculoskeletal (muscular atrophy, osteoporosis); hematological (anemia); immunological (immune dysregulation) and digestive (intestinal microbiota disorder). In addition, there are biological, molecular and genetic processes still to be explored, in order to know and mitigate the uncertain mechanisms triggered in extreme and dangerous environments. Therefore, it is a priority to develop and implement countermeasures to reduce the harmful effects on health, with the aim of guaranteeing the astronaut's adaptation, safety and performance during future space flights.

show abstract

“…During weightlessness gravity no longer acts as a fundamental reference, and the discrepancy between vestibular (including conflicts between otolith and semicircular canal information), visual, and sensorimotor signals can affect spatial abilities (Clément et al, 1989;McIntyre et al, 2001). So far, microgravity research has concentrated on posture, gaze, functional mobility, and spatial orientation, reporting misperceptions of visual orientation, depth and distance, and difficulties in shape recognition (Reschke and Clément, 2018). Whether the lack of gravity also impairs spatial navigation performance and strategies is not well understood.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%