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Special Issue "Effects of Weightlessness on Molecular Changes in Cellular Organisms, Animals and Plants"

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A special issue of Biomolecules (ISSN 2218-273X). This special issue belongs to the section "Cellular Biochemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2023 | Viewed by 3842

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Prof. Dr. Daniela Grimm

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Guest Editor

1. Department of Microgravity and Translational Regenerative Medicine, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany
2. Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
Interests: space medicine; translational regenerative medicine; tissue engineering; cancer research; biomarker
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Dear Colleagues,

Space travel has always been a dream of humankind. Deep space exploration will increase the time humans or rodents will spend in microgravity (µg). Moreover, they are exposed to cosmic radiation, hypodynamia, and isolation.

Life in space has enormous well-described effects on health. To counteract these health problems, studies focusing on cardiovascular changes, bone loss, muscle atrophy or the immune system, among others, have been performed in recent years.

This Special Issue (SI) focuses on the impact of real microgravity on humans, animals, microorganisms, and plants during spaceflights. It addresses the impact of cosmic radiation, available countermeasures, and possible applications on Earth.

In addition, studies investigating the effects of simulated microgravity on cells, animals and microorganisms will be published. Ground-based facilities created to provide microgravity on Earth can be used to study molecular biological changes in cells, plants and microorganisms.

Articles and reviews will be published reporting recent advances in gravitational biology, translational regenerative medicine, space medicine and cancer research. Omics investigations and bioinformatics studies will be collected in this Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. Daniela Grimm
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Biomolecules is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2300 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

cells
humans
animals
plants
microorganisms
microgravity
weightlessness
cancer research
tissue engineering
space-related health problems

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

Open AccessArticle

Transcriptomic Effects on the Mouse Heart Following 30 Days on the International Space Station

and

Biomolecules 2023, 13(2), 371; https://doi.org/10.3390/biom13020371 - 15 Feb 2023

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Abstract

Efforts to understand the impact of spaceflight on the human body stem from growing interest in long-term space travel. Multiple organ systems are affected by microgravity and radiation, including the cardiovascular system. Previous transcriptomic studies have sought to reveal the changes in gene expression after spaceflight. However, little is known about the impact of long-term spaceflight on the mouse heart in vivo. This study focuses on the transcriptomic changes in the hearts of female C57BL/6J mice flown on the International Space Station (ISS) for 30 days. RNA was isolated from the hearts of three flight and three comparable ground control mice and RNA sequencing was performed. Our analyses showed that 1147 transcripts were significantly regulated after spaceflight. The MAPK, PI3K-Akt, and GPCR signaling pathways were predicted to be activated. Transcripts related to cytoskeleton breakdown and organization were upregulated, but no significant change in the expression of extracellular matrix (ECM) components or oxidative stress pathway-associated transcripts occurred. Our results indicate an absence of cellular senescence, and a significant upregulation of transcripts associated with the cell cycle. Transcripts related to cellular maintenance and survival were most affected by spaceflight, suggesting that cardiovascular transcriptome initiates an adaptive response to long-term spaceflight. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effects of Weightlessness on Molecular Changes in Cellular Organisms, Animals and Plants)

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Open AccessArticle

Oligodendrocyte Progenitors Display Enhanced Proliferation and Autophagy after Space Flight

Victoria Tran

Nicholas Carpo

Carlos Cepeda

and

Araceli Espinosa-Jeffrey

Biomolecules 2023, 13(2), 201; https://doi.org/10.3390/biom13020201 - 19 Jan 2023

Viewed by 1097

Abstract

Intracranial hypertension (ICP) and visual impairment intracranial pressure (VIIP) are some of the consequences of long-term space missions. Here we examined the behavior of oligodendrocyte progenitors (OLPs) after space flight using time-lapse microscopy. We show that most OLPs divided more than ground control (GC) counterparts did. Nonetheless, a subpopulation of OLPs flown to space presented a significant increase in autophagic cell death. Examination of the proteomic profile of the secretome of space flown OLPs (SPC-OLPs) revealed that the stress protein heat shock protein-90 beta “HSP-90β” was the 5^th most enriched (6.8 times) and the secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine “SPARC” was the 7^th most enriched (5.2 times), with respect to ground control cells. SPARC induces endoplasmic reticulum stress, which leads to autophagy. Given the roles and importance of these two proteins in mammalian cells’ metabolism, their upregulation may hold the key to modulating cell proliferation and autophagy, in order to mitigate ICP and VIIP during and after space missions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effects of Weightlessness on Molecular Changes in Cellular Organisms, Animals and Plants)

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Open AccessArticle

Effects of High Glucose on Human Endothelial Cells Exposed to Simulated Microgravity

José Luis Cortés-Sánchez

Judit Prat-Duran

Daniela Grimm

and

Ulf Simonsen

Biomolecules 2023, 13(2), 189; https://doi.org/10.3390/biom13020189 - 17 Jan 2023

Viewed by 1102

Abstract

A diabetogenic state induced by spaceflight provokes stress and health problems in astronauts. Microgravity (µg) is one of the main stressors in space causing hyperglycaemia. However, the underlying molecular pathways and synergistic effects of µg and hyperglycaemia are not fully understood. In this study, we investigated the effects of high glucose on EA.hy926 endothelial cells in simulated µg (s-µg) using a 3D clinostat and static normogravity (1g) conditions. After 14 days of cell culture under s-µg and 1g conditions, we compared the expression of extracellular matrix (ECM), inflammation, glucose metabolism, and apoptosis-related genes and proteins through qPCR, immunofluorescence, and Western blot analyses, respectively. Apoptosis was evaluated via TUNEL staining. Gene interactions were examined via STRING analysis. Our results show that glucose concentrations had a weaker effect than altered gravity. µg downregulated the ECM gene and protein expression and had a stronger influence on glucose metabolism than hyperglycaemia. Moreover, hyperglycaemia caused more pronounced changes in 3D cultures than in 2D cultures, including bigger and a greater number of spheroids, upregulation of NOX4 and the apoptotic proteins NF-κB and CASP3, and downregulation of fibronectin and transglutaminase-2. Our findings bring new insights into the possible molecular pathways involved in the diabetogenic vascular effects in µg. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Effects of Weightlessness on Molecular Changes in Cellular Organisms, Animals and Plants)

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