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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Physiol.
Sec. Environmental, Aviation and Space Physiology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fphys.2024.1482860
This article is part of the Research Topic Exploring Frontiers: Astroparticle, Space Science and Public Health for Future Crewed Space Missions View all 6 articles

EXERCISE COMBINED WITH ARTIFICIAL GRAVITY and EXERCISE ONLY COUNTERMEASURES PREVENT ORGAN and BLOOD VESSEL MORPHOLGICAL CHANGES INDUCED BY 55 DAYS HDT BEDREST

Provisionally accepted
Philippe L ARBEILLE Philippe L ARBEILLE *Kathryn ZUJ Kathryn ZUJ Laurent GUILLON Laurent GUILLON
  • Unité de Médecine et Physiologie Spatiales (UMPS-CERCOM), Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Trousseau de Tours, Tours, France

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Changes in blood vessel properties have been identified with confinement, spaceflight, bedrest, and dry immersion. Subsequently, it was suspected that other organs may also be affected in these extreme environments. The purposes of the current study were to determine the effects of headdown bedrest (HDT) on cardiovascular and organ measurements made using ultrasound imaging similar to that currently available on the International Space Station, and to evaluate the efficacy of two different countermeasure protocols in preventing any observed changes in the ultrasound measurements with HDT.Methods: Ultrasound measures were conducted on 24 individuals (3 groups of 8) pre HDT and on day 55 of the HDT. The control group (C°) remained in passive HDT for the 55 days, the C1 group performed aerobic exercise daily (EX), and the C2 group practiced aerobic exercise under artificial gravity conditions (EX-AG). Fifteen parameters were measured on 10 different organs and blood vessels including the right common carotid artery, abdominal aorta, right tibial artery, left ventricle, right jugular vein, portal vein, right kidney, cervical and lumbar vertebra, and the vastus intermedius muscle.Results: HDT resulted in changes for many of the parameters investigated. Observed changes in carotid IMT and distensibility, cardiac ejection fraction, portal vein diameter, and vastus intermedius muscle thickness were attenuated with EX and EX-AG, with EX-AG having a greater effect than exercise alone on measures of carotid distensibility. Conclusion: Results from this study indicate changes in many structures assessed with ultrasound imaging after 55 days of HDT bedrest with some changes being attenuated with the two investigated countermeasure protocols. (258w) NEW and NOTEWORTHY: Results from this study indicate significant physiological effects of 55days bedrest in the control subjects while the exercise alone and the exercise with artificial gravity countermeasures and maintained the parameters relatively stable.

    Keywords: Bedrest, echography, organ and vessel imaging, Countermeasure, Exercise

    Received: 18 Aug 2024; Accepted: 08 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 ARBEILLE, ZUJ and GUILLON. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Philippe L ARBEILLE, Unité de Médecine et Physiologie Spatiales (UMPS-CERCOM), Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Trousseau de Tours, Tours, France

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