A study conducted by a group of scientists in the USA showed that the human heart began to show signs of aging in only a month of stay in space.
For an experiment, American scientists created an artificial heart tissue that imitates the contractions of a real heart, and placed it in a special “heart -chip” system. This system was sent for 30 days to the International Space Station (ISS) to observe changes in zero gravity.
Researchers used sensors to monitor the nature of the reduction and excitation of fabrics at the station in real time. For comparison, observation was also carried out by a similar set of fabric samples on Earth. During the study, scientists found that after 12 days of staying on the ISS, the strength of heart contractions decreased almost twice, while on Earth a similar tissue remained stable. Muscle weakness remained even 9 days after returning to Earth.
In conditions of zero gravity, malfunctions were also noted in the rhythm of fabric contractions that disappeared after returning to Earth.
According to the results of the study, it was stated that the heart tissue of people who spent only one month in space, weakened, the rhythm of their heartbeat became irregular, and the heart has undergone molecular and genetic changes that simulate signs of aging.
The study is published in the journal “The Procedings of the National Academy of Sciences”.