Researchers from ULB (Faculté des Sciences de la Motricité, de Médecine and Polytechnique) have recently published two articles in npj Microgravity, studying the effects of microgravity on the cardiovascular system. This international project, initiated more than a decade ago, was funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Belgian Science Policy Office (BELSPO), in collaboration with colleagues in Italy, Germany, and Russia.
In the first paper, Paniz Balali and colleagues have used a system of wearable sensors to follow the cardiovascular status of seventeen cosmonauts before, during, and after missions of up to one year aboard the International Space Station. They have shown that the in-flight exercise performed daily by the cosmonauts was enough to preserve most of the markers of the cardiac function, throughout their missions to space. Importantly, this set of wearable sensors has the potential to be used in future interplanetary missions, where more advances medical tools will not be available. Some of these sensors, based on the measurement of the micro-vibrations generated by the cardiac activity, are also being used on Earth by researchers at ULB. Among other objectives, they aim at facilitating the diagnostic of some pathologies, ranging from congenital heart diseases in children, to sleep apnea and cardiac valve diseases. They would also like to validate such a tool for the monitoring of vascular aging.
The second paper uses advanced cardiac MRI in nine cosmonauts before and after missions of approximately six months aboard the International Space Station. It extends the previous paper by showing that regular in-flight exercise was effective in preserving overall cardiac mass, volume, and function. However, Cyril Tordeur and colleagues demonstrated for the first time in humans that the papillary muscles of the left ventricle were losing around 14% of their mass following prolonged exposure to weightlessness. This represents a risk, as these small structures are essential for proper closure of the valves within the heart, in order to avoid backward blood flow. It highlights a previously unrecognized regional adaptation of the human heart to spaceflight, contributing key knowledge to the medical preparation of future long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars.
BLU-ULB researchers involved: Paniz Balali, Cyril Tordeur, Elza Abdessater, Dr. Amin Hossein, Dr. Jérémy Rabineau, Prof. Vitalie Faoro, Prof. Philippe van de Borne.
