Article
Review Article
Impacts of the Spaceflight to the Immune System
Doston Sultonov, M.D.1,2 
, Young Hyo Kim, M.D., Ph.D.1,2
, Young Hyo Kim, M.D., Ph.D.1,2 1Inha Institute of Aerospace Medicine, 2Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Inha University School of Medicine, Incheon, Korea
Correspondence to:Received: October 25, 2021; Revised: November 22, 2021; Accepted: November 22, 2021
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Korean J Aerosp Environ Med 2021; 31(3): 73-76
Published December 31, 2021 https://doi.org/10.46246/KJAsEM.210016
Copyright © Aerospace Medical Association of Korea.
Abstract
Changes the gravity has a significant affect on the immune system. Astronauts experience the gravity changing during spaceflight, especially when launching and landing they experience hypergravity, and during spaceflight they feel microgravity. Both hypergravity and microgravity has an impact to the immune system, but not the same effect. These impacts have been investigated extensively during spaceflight in astronauts and in model experiments conducted on Earth as well. Astronauts during spaceflight feel the hypergravity, psychological stress, fear, high doses of radiation and microgravity. All these factors and changes may affect immune system directly or indirectly.
Keywords
Immune system, Aerospace medicine, Hypergravity, Altered gravity, Lymphopoiesis
References
- Jang TY, Jung AY, Kim YH. Hormetic effect of chronic hypergravity in a mouse model of allergic asthma and rhinitis. Sci Rep 2016;6:27260. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep27260
- Genchi GG, Rocca A, Marino A, Grillone A, Mattoli V, Ciofani G. Hypergravity as a tool for cell stimulation: implications in biomedicine. Front Astron Space Sci 2016;3:26. https://doi.org/10.3389/fspas.2016.00026
- Galimberti M, Tolić-Nørrelykke IM, Favillini R, Mercatelli R, Annunziato F, Cosmi L, et al. Hypergravity speeds up the development of T-lymphocyte motility. Eur Biophys J 2006;35:393-400. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00249-006-0046-x
- Taylor K, Kleinhesselink K, George MD, Morgan R, Smallwood T, Hammonds AS, et al. Toll mediated infection response is altered by gravity and spaceflight in Drosophila. PLoS One 2014;9:e86485. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0086485
- Kim D, Kim YH, Kwon S. Enhanced nasal drug delivery efficiency by increasing mechanical loading using hypergravity. Sci Rep 2018;8:168. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-18561-x
- Jang TY, Jung AY, Kwon S, Kim YH. Hypergravity enhances the therapeutic effect of dexamethasone in allergic asthma and rhinitis animal model. PLoS One 2018;13:e0197594. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0197594
- Jang TY, Kim KS, Park CS, Lim J, Huh KC, Heo MJ, et al. Exposure to hypergravity increases serum interleukin-5 and pulmonary infiltration in mice with allergic asthma. Cent Eur J Immunol 2014;39:434-440. https://doi.org/10.5114/ceji.2014.47725
- Mizoguchi T, Pinho S, Ahmed J, Kunisaki Y, Hanoun M, Mendelson A, et al. Osterix marks distinct waves of primitive and definitive stromal progenitors during bone marrow development. Dev Cell 2014;29:340-349. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2014.03.013
- Akiyama T, Horie K, Hinoi E, Hiraiwa M, Kato A, Maekawa Y, et al. How does spaceflight affect the acquired immune system? NPJ Microgravity 2020;6:14. https://doi. org/10.1038/s41526-020-0104-1
- Tascher G, Gerbaix M, Maes P, Chazarin B, Ghislin S, Antropova E, et al. Analysis of femurs from mice embarked on board BION-M1 biosatellite reveals a decrease in immune cell development, including B cells, after 1 wk of recovery on Earth. FASEB J 2019;33:3772-3783. https://doi.org/10.1096/fj.201801463R
- Benjamin CL, Stowe RP, St John L, Sams CF, Mehta SK, Crucian BE, et al. Decreases in thymopoiesis of astronauts returning from space flight. JCI Insight 2016;1:e88787. https://doi.org/10.1172/jci.insight.88787
- Gridley DS, Mao XW, Stodieck LS, Ferguson VL, Bateman TA, Moldovan M, et al. Changes in mouse thymus and spleen after return from the STS-135 mission in space. PLoS One 2013;8:e75097. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0075097
- Novoselova EG, Lunin SM, Khrenov MO, Parfenyuk SB, Novoselova TV, Shenkman BS, et al. Changes in immune cell signalling, apoptosis and stress response functions in mice returned from the BION-M1 mission in space. Immunobiology 2015;220:500-509. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. imbio.2014.10.021
- Taylor GR, Dardano JR. Human cellular immune responsiveness following space flight. Aviat Space Environ Med 1983;54(12 Pt 2):S55-S59.
- Crucian B, Stowe RP, Mehta S, Quiriarte H, Pierson D, Sams C. Alterations in adaptive immunity persist during long-duration spaceflight. NPJ Microgravity 2015;1:15013. https://doi.org/10.1038/npjmgrav.2015.13
- Stowe RP, Sams CF, Mehta SK, Kaur I, Jones ML, Feeback DL, et al. Leukocyte subsets and neutrophil function after short-term spaceflight. J Leukoc Biol 1999;65:179-186. https://doi.org/10.1002/jlb.65.2.179
- Crucian BE, Zwart SR, Mehta S, Uchakin P, Quiriarte HD, Pierson D, et al. Plasma cytokine concentrations indicate that in vivo hormonal regulation of immunity is altered during long-duration spaceflight. J Interferon Cytokine Res 2014;34:778-786. https://doi.org/10.1089/jir.2013.0129
- Mehta SK, Crucian BE, Stowe RP, Simpson RJ, Ott CM, Sams CF, et al. Reactivation of latent viruses is associated with increased plasma cytokines in astronauts. Cytokine 2013;61:205-209. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cyto.2012.09.019
Endnote Style
Full Text
PDF
