The Monitor Daily

Monday, March 8, 2021
Log in

As a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, this site may earn from qualifying purchases. We may also earn commissions on purchases from other retail websites.

  • Home
  • Politics & National News
  • Business News
  • Tech & Science
  • Health & Lifestyle
  • About us
    • Contact US
    • Privacy Policy GDPR
    • Terms of Use
  • Latest News
    • Stormy Planet
    • US Surgeon Performs Face Transplant
    • 2017 MTV VMAs Nominations Are In And Voting Is Now Open
    • Bright House: Free McAfee AntiVirus and Adult Controls
    • Antarctic Yeti Crab Gets Formal Scientific Name
    • Spiders Take Over Australian Town
    • Interesting Facts About the Apollo 11 Mission
    • Social Smoking or The New Landmark of Elegance Among Young Women
    • Rare Weasel Returns To Washington State

Pages

  • About The Monitor Daily
  • Contact US
  • Our Team
  • Privacy Policy GDPR
  • Terms of Use

Recent Posts

  • NYC Man Snaps Photo of the Victim After Sucker-Punching Him in Broad Daylight Jun 29, 2018
  • California Woman Performs Home Abortion By Asking Boyfriend to Kick Her in The Belly Jun 28, 2018
  • Nashville Man Arrested After Throwing Cocaine in Police Officer’s Face Jun 28, 2018
  • Brittany Pilkington Wants Psych Eval Before Sentencing Jun 27, 2018
  • Fayetteville Mom Behind Bars For Feeding Children Lighter Fluid Jun 27, 2018
  • Missouri Police Arrested Angry Customer Who Vandalized Nail Salon Jun 26, 2018
  • Queensland Mother Mutilated After Non-Invasive Eye Procedure Goes Sideways Jun 25, 2018

Short-Term Space Flight Caused Liver Damage in Mice

Apr 22, 2016 By Joe Hennessey 1 Comment

"space mouse"

Even though space travel and otherworldly colonization have been a dream of mankind’s for a very long time, we still live in a relatively moral society. This is why we actually want the people we send into space to come back safe and healthy, and we don’t just run tests sacrificing test subjects until the results are successful.

So it’s only natural that worries ensue when scientists find out that short-term space flight caused liver damage in mice. The team isn’t yet sure about the full extent of their findings, but they are eager to send more mice into space and to find out more about how the condition actually happens.

The study comes as a result of analyzing data from way back in 2011, when it turns out that mice that spent two weeks in space during NASA’s last space shuttle program mission returned to the planet sporting signs of early-stage liver disease. Understandably, this sparked s number of very reasonable concerns.

When compared to a control group that remained on Earth, the space mice stored more fat in their livers in addition to presenting lower levels of retinol. Retinol is a sort of vitamin A used by animals for bone growth and health, good vision, and a number of other important body processes.

All of the symptoms point to signs of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and some of the animals even presented some scar tissue in the liver, a key sign of early fibrosis. They might have even been on their way towards developing cirrhosis.

The study’s lead author, Karen Jonscher, an associate professor of anesthesiology and a physicist with the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, had this to say about the conundrum:

It generally takes a long time, months to years, to induce fibrosis in mice, even when eating an unhealthy diet. If a mouse is showing nascent signs of fibrosis without a change in diet after 13.5 days, what is happening to the humans?

[…]Whether or not this is a problem is an open question. We need to look at mice involved in longer-duration spaceflight to see if there are compensatory mechanisms that come into play that might protect them from serious damage.

Of course, with the Agency planning on sending astronauts to Mars by the end of the next decade, the matter is of no small concern. Every single aspect of space travel has to be perfectly understood so that everything during the long space trip is perfectly planned for.

While some factors of prolonged space travel have been known for a while (bone loss, muscle atrophy, vision problems, etc.), nothing of the sort has been encountered before. So, scientists are hoping for the opportunity to do more tests and to figure exactly what happens to one’s body in the furthest reaches of space.

Image source: Wikimedia

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Share on Tumblr

Filed Under: Tech & Science Tagged With: International Space Station, mars, Mars mission, nasa, red planet, research, space, study

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 34 other subscribers

Operation Paperclip

Remembering Georg von Tiesenhausen, Last Member of Von Braun’s Rocket Team

Jun 6, 2018 By Ryan Harriss Leave a Comment

giant ground sloths on white background

It Seems that Giant Sloths Once Roamed Earth, and Humans Used to Hunt Them? (Study)

May 8, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

sn 2001ig supernova explosion and images of its stars

A Star Escaped a Supernova Explosion, and NASA Snapped its Picture

May 7, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

ngc 6420 galaxy resembling a giant butterfly

Hubble Spots Giant Butterfly Formed by a Black Hole and Stellar Winds (Study)

Apr 20, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

infrared image of a dog

Space Technology Could Help Protect Earth’s Endangered Species

Apr 5, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

snake slithering on a beige background

Kirigami Skin Is Helping a Soft Robot Slither Like a Snake (Study)

Feb 26, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

woolly mammoth

Ice Age Tracks Reveal How Young Mammoths Cared for Adult Ones (Study)

Feb 14, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

High Priestess tomb.

Archaeologists Discovered 4400-Years-Old High Priestess Tomb Near Cairo

Feb 5, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

dwarf galaxies

Dwarf Galaxies Challenge the Entire Dark Matter Cosmology (Study)

Feb 4, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

NASA Scientists and Food Experiments

NASA Scientists to Test if Astronauts Could Eat Their Own Poo

Feb 1, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

KFC Smoky Wings Box Can Turn into Awesome Drone

Jan 26, 2018 By Robert Moore Leave a Comment

Tesla Model S

Tesla Model S Involved in Autopilot Malfunction Accident

Jan 24, 2018 By Joe Hennessey Leave a Comment

Duke Nukem.

John Cena Cold Feature in Duke Nukem Movie

Jan 23, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

Battlefield One

Battlefield One Apocalypse DLC to Land in February

Jan 20, 2018 By Ryan Harriss Leave a Comment

Related Articles

  • Operation Paperclip

    Remembering Georg von Tiesenhausen, Last Member of Von Braun’s Rocket Team

    Jun 6, 2018
  • giant ground sloths on white background

    It Seems that Giant Sloths Once Roamed Earth, and Humans Used to Hunt Them? (Study)

    May 8, 2018
  • sn 2001ig supernova explosion and images of its stars

    A Star Escaped a Supernova Explosion, and NASA Snapped its Picture

    May 7, 2018
  • ngc 6420 galaxy resembling a giant butterfly

    Hubble Spots Giant Butterfly Formed by a Black Hole and Stellar Winds (Study)

    Apr 20, 2018
  • infrared image of a dog

    Space Technology Could Help Protect Earth’s Endangered Species

    Apr 5, 2018
  • snake slithering on a beige background

    Kirigami Skin Is Helping a Soft Robot Slither Like a Snake (Study)

    Feb 26, 2018
  • woolly mammoth

    Ice Age Tracks Reveal How Young Mammoths Cared for Adult Ones (Study)

    Feb 14, 2018
  • High Priestess tomb.

    Archaeologists Discovered 4400-Years-Old High Priestess Tomb Near Cairo

    Feb 5, 2018
  • dwarf galaxies

    Dwarf Galaxies Challenge the Entire Dark Matter Cosmology (Study)

    Feb 4, 2018
  • NASA Scientists and Food Experiments

    NASA Scientists to Test if Astronauts Could Eat Their Own Poo

    Feb 1, 2018

Categories

  • Business News
  • Entertainment
  • Featured
  • Health & Lifestyle
  • Nature
  • Politics & National
  • Sports
  • Tech & Science
  • US
  • World

Copyright © 2021 TheMonitorDaily.com

About · Privacy Policy · Terms of Use · Sitemap · Contact

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Learn more.