Posted on 04/20/2016 10:02:28 PM PDT by BenLurkin
n a discovery with implications for long-term spaceflight and future missions to Mars, a researcher at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus has found that mice flown aboard the space shuttle Atlantis returned to Earth with early signs of liver disease.
"Prior to this study we really didn't have much information on the impact of spaceflight on the liver," said the study's lead author Karen Jonscher, PhD, an associate professor of anesthesiology and a physicist at CU Anschutz. "We knew that astronauts often returned with diabetes-like symptoms but they usually resolved quickly."
But the prospect of liver damage raises new concerns.
The mice studied spent 13.5 days aboard the space shuttle. When they returned, Jonscher and her colleagues were able to collect liver samples. They found that spaceflight appeared to activate specialized liver cells that may go on to induce scarring and cause long-term damage to the organ.
(Excerpt) Read more at spacedaily.com ...
Ya gave em too much Bacardi Rum 151...
All this time of humans in orbit and we’re still fooling around with mice?
Society tends to frown upon the dissection of astronauts.
Hanging out in the Russian sector too much? Had to ask, know it was on everyone’s mind.
‘There is more medical technology than is dreamt of in your philosophy, Horatio.’
I’ve been Yorick-rolled.
:-P
LOL!
Oh no, did they kill the mouse?
I’m not sure I appreciate the gravity of this result (snark).
Haven’t they done liver function tests, if not outright dissection, on space-shuttle astronauts?
Not much else to do out there than getting smashed...
...by cosmic radiation, of course...
One astronaut scientist used to sleep in the water storage room to help minimize his constant exposure during his stay in the ISS.
Would be nice to know what these “diabetes-like symptoms” are, specifically, and how they are caused by what sort of liver damage...
Try subjecting them to 9G without the space ride, and then compare results. Could be that those little critters aren’t perfect substitutes for humans.
Oh yes, of course. Absolutely.
Shouldn't that be "Absolut-ly"?
NASA frowns on such beverages. On the ISS, the Russians aren't of the same mind-set.
When you’re out there that long, Vodka’s a guy to do?
“Society tends to frown upon the dissection of astronauts.”
Nasa should be using lawyers for testing instead of white mice - they are more plentiful and you don’t get so attached to them.
Bad news for any mice going to Mars.
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