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Study Examines Effects of Space

In preliminary results of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)’s Twin Study, astronaut Scott Kelly’s gene expression has a seven percent difference in gene expression from his twin Mark Kelly. His actual genes have not changed; however, there are changes in how his genes were expressed.

It is an impressive study and I do not want to make my statements too strong (I am really small compared to the big guys behind this massive study) . One thing that…I would have done differently is keep the conditions of the control on Earth as similar as possible to the one in space. In other words, why diet and exercise of the control twin (on Earth) were not the same of the twin in space (we all know that space food is not truly appealing, but…)? It looks a little bit too easy (in my opinion) say, for example, that “the lengthening of Scott’s telomeres in space may be due to rigorous exercise regime and restricted caloric intake,”” said Carla Brillada, a Postdoctoral Research Scholar in the Plant and Microbial Biology department at North Carolina State University.

NASA’s Twins Study is a set of 10 research projects gathering data from both Mark and Scott Kelly. Mark Kelly and Scott Kelly are a pair of identical twin brothers, both of them astronauts. In the study, Scott Kelly went on the International Space Station (ISS) for a year while Mark Kelly stayed on Earth. Scott Kelly’s gene expression being altered by 7% compared to his brother after landing implies that spaceflight alters human physiology.

“In the article contexts it means that, even after 6 months back on Earth (the time is really important, because it means that just after landing the differences were 93% higher), 7%  of the genes expressed by Scott (it will be interesting to know in which kind of cells) were still different from the one expressed by Mark. I do not know how many were changed just after landing, but in general it means that human can adapt, and go back to the original status in a relatively short time. The big deal will be in the long term,  if and how in the future this difference will impact on Scott’s health,” said Brillada.

Scientists measured metabolites, cytokines, and proteins in Scott’s body. They did so before, during, and after his mission.One interesting find is that space exploration is linked to oxygen deprivation stress.

“I guess it depends.  Which genes are different and how much are they different? If none of these 7% gene is linked to an increase in the possibility of get sick (cancer, chronic syndromes etc…) the impact will be huge, because it means that human can stay for long period of time in space, without a decrease in life expectancy,” said Brillada.

The telomeres in Scott Kelly’s body lengthened during the one year mission. Telomeres in humans on Earth become shorter as we age. Once the astronaut returned to Earth, his telomeres went back to their baseline within 48 hours of his return to Earth. Telomeres are sequences of junk DNA at the ends of chromosomes that protect functional DNA from damage by being at the edge and therefore damaged first.

“With respect to the telomeres lengthening, I thought that was really interesting because…that is almost like saying your lifespan is longer in space than it is on Earth, and that is because of a lot of the forces acting on your body at a given time. It was really interesting that those lengthened, and that within two days they went back to normal of him being back here. It makes me wonder if you could live or travel in space for a longer period of time and age more slowly,” said Abbey Wood, Advanced Placement Biology teacher at Athens.

NASA’s scientists also measured large nutrient shifts in Scott’s body. They also found he had higher levels of inflammation in space than his brother did on Earth. The brother, Mark Kelly, remained on Earth while Scott Kelly went to space. Scott’s vital signs were compared to Mark’s vital signs to isolate changes in Scotts body from things that remained the same.

“It would be really interesting to investigate why there was the 7% that did stay altered versus most of the things going back to normal. I think that could have very interesting implications for protein pathways of study,” said Wood.

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