Effects of a Closed Space Environment on Gene Expression in Hair Follicles of Astronauts in the International Space Station.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 27029003.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0150801 and PMC identifier 4814050.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Adaptation to the space environment can sometimes pose physiological problems to International Space Station (ISS) astronauts after their return to earth. Therefore, it is important to develop healthcare technologies for astronauts. In this study, we examined the feasibility of using hair follicles, a readily obtained sample, to assess gene expression changes in response to spaceflight adaptation. In order to investigate the gene expression changes in human hair follicles during spaceflight, hair follicles of 10 astronauts were analyzed by microarray and real time qPCR analyses. We found that spaceflight alters human hair follicle gene expression. The degree of changes in gene expression was found to vary among individuals. In some astronauts, genes related to hair growth such as FGF18, ANGPTL7 and COMP were upregulated during flight, suggesting that spaceflight inhibits cell proliferation in hair follicles.
Medical subject headings
- Gene Expression
- Hair Follicle