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posted by chromas on Thursday October 04 2018, @12:20PM   Printer-friendly

Animal Study Suggests Deep Space Travel May Significantly Damage GI Function in Astronauts

Simulations with animal models meant to mirror galactic cosmic radiation exposure to astronauts are raising red flags for investigators at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) about the health of astronauts during long voyages, such as to Mars.

Their most recent study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), suggests that deep space bombardment by galactic cosmic radiation (GCR) could significantly damage gastrointestinal (GI) tissue leading to long-term functional alterations. The study also raises concern about high risk of tumor development in the stomach and colon.

Their previous work has highlighted potential impairment to brain tissue, as well as accelerated aging, on long space trips due to the effect of energetic heavy ions, which don't affect Earthlings due to the protective global magnetosphere.

Also at Engadget.

Space radiation triggers persistent stress response, increases senescent signaling, and decreases cell migration in mouse intestine (open, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1807522115) (DX)


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 04 2018, @06:20PM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 04 2018, @06:20PM (#744226)

    Consider that the mouse's DNA looks startlingly like ours

    Pigs are even more similar. Which is very well known among biologists.
    https://www.science.org.au/curious/people-medicine/similarities-between-humans-and-pigs [science.org.au]
    Given that, experimenting on animals four thousand times smaller to study phenomena where size matters quite a lot, is as unreasonable as it is useless.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 04 2018, @06:26PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 04 2018, @06:26PM (#744229)

    I think how you define "similar" matters the most.

    Also I've looked into how they construct some of these genomes, and sometimes they use another species genome as a "scaffold" to fill in the blanks. So I wouldn't be so quick to accept these "similarities".

    In Jurassic park they used frog DNA instead of bird dna as the scaffold and look what happened.

    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday October 04 2018, @07:07PM (3 children)

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday October 04 2018, @07:07PM (#744256) Journal

      In Jurassic park they used frog DNA instead of bird dna as the scaffold and look what happened.

      A wildly successful film franchise, multiple theme parks, and even customized dinosaurs for military purposes.

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 04 2018, @07:14PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 04 2018, @07:14PM (#744263)

        Yea, but the real T-rex didn't run, didn't stick out its tongue or lick anything, quacked instead of roaring, and had plumage instead of scales.