Mice flown in space show nascent liver damage

space daily ^

[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.

[Salamander]

*Word!*

;D