Space travel has allowed man to explore the mysteries of the universe but new research has shown that this could come at a cost to the liver.
The team of scientists from University of Colorado, discovered that mice who had been travelling on the space shuttle Atlantis have early signs of liver damage.
The mice spent a total of 13.5 days on the trip into space which is a significant percentage of their overall lifespan. This indicates that long-term space missions such as those to Mars, could cause liver damage to astronauts taking part in the expeditions.
Karen Jonscher, who is an associate professor of anesthesiology and a physicist at UC Anschutz, and also lead the study, explains that tests on the mice revealed a type of fatty acid disease and certain indications of early stage fibrosis, according to The Telegraph.
“If a mouse is showing nascent signs of fibrosis without a change in diet after 13.5 days, what is happening to humans?
The study, published in the journal Plos One also revealed several other changes including reduced amount of lean muscle mass in the mice. The stress of space travel itself needs to be taken into account but the findings indicate the need to investigate whether space travel is safe for the people involved and whether damage to health can be prevented.
“Further study in this area is merited and analysis of tissues harvested in space from mice flown aboard the International Space Station for several months may help determine whether long-term spaceflight might lead to more advanced hepatic injury and whether damage can be prevented”
This adds to previous research on the effects of space travel where links have been made between microgravity and metabolism as well as the impact it has on muscles, bones, brain function and cardiovascular health. However, this is the first study to look into the implications to the liver.