Team to study how gravity affects brain
Hoping to help ordinary people with neurological disorders, University of Calgary researchers will study astronauts in space and how changes in gravity affect the brain and its navigation systems.
In a unique experiment with the Canadian Space Agency and the International Space Station, astronauts will have a series of neurological tests before heading to space, then again after a sixmonth mission at the station.
Known as Wayfinding, the study will investigate how reduced gravitational forces affect the astronauts’ ability to navigate through vision, balance and messaging to the brain.
The research is expected to provide knowledge that will eventually benefit ordinary patients on Earth affected by similar neurological conditions. Those could include myriad common conditions, from dizziness, vertigo, inner-ear issues, vision or neural degeneration related to aging.
“The study will give us the unique opportunity to investigate how the lack of gravity affects the complex neural networks responsible for our sense of direction,” said Dr. Giuseppe Iaria of the University of Calgary, principal investigator for the Wayfinding experiment.
“This knowledge will help us generate effective countermeasures to keep our astronauts healthy and safe during their long-term missions in space and their subsequent lives on Earth. Our findings will provide a deeper understanding of a variety of neurological conditions.”
Iaria explained that space is a perfect study environment because of its unique “microgravity” that has significantly less gravity than Earth but still enough to pull together clouds of gas or move meteorites.
The brain’s vestibular function, which guides humans’ sense of direction, will be studied before and after the microgravity environment. The experiment is slated to begin in 2018.
“We are the perfect guinea pigs for medical research,” SaintJacques said Wednesday at the U of C’s study announcement.
“There isn’t a system in our body that’s not affected by lack of gravity. We’ve evolved on Earth over millions of years in the presence of gravity. Our body works with gravity. But when you remove gravity, everything goes out of whack. So, because of that, astronauts can develop problems that often resemble real disease.”
We’ve evolved on Earth over millions of years in the presence of gravity. Our body works with gravity.