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KOMPAS.com– Dozens mouse sent to the station Outer Space International ( ISS) in December last year. Uniquely, the body mutant mouse this looks more stocky like a bodybuilder.
Travel outer space long, such as a mission to the planet Mars for example, is expected to have an effect on the human body, one of which is loss of mass muscle and bone.
Forty young female black rats were sent to the International Space Station (ISS), in December last year as part of the research.
The goal of the mission is for scientists to try to find ways to minimize the impact of potential losses muscle mass when astronauts go on missions into space.
Also read: Super Rat Sent to the Space Station, What for?
As quoted from Phys, Thursday (10/9/2020) before being dispatched to the ISS, researchers conducted a series genetical manipulation in a number of mice.
Researchers gave drugs to maintain muscle and bone density significantly in mice called super mice.
When returning to Earth, the mutant mice did not lose any muscle mass at all, even after returning from space their muscles became much larger.
Also read: Mice and Humans Mixed Creatures Are Created, 4 Percent Cells Similar To Us
Meanwhile, the mice that did not get the drug lost muscle and bone mass by 18 percent.
Even though it is a solution for space travel, it needs many more steps to be done before testing it on humans without serious side effects.
Dr Se-Jin Lee of the Jackson Laboratory at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine who is the leader of the research team said the next step is to send more mice into space with a longer duration.
Launch Science Alert, experiments on mice can also be an alternative to reduce the effects of space travel in the long term.
Therefore, microgravity has a bad effect on humans on Earth. For astronauts returning after months in space it takes about two hours a day to recover their muscle density.
As for restoring bone density, they take at least years.
It seems that now the genetically engineered mutant mice can bring a closer look at the solution to the loss of muscle mass of astronauts after long missions far from Earth.
Also read: Not only bats, the potential for the spread of the corona virus is also in mice
Mighty MiceThe scientists said the genetically modified mice spent 33 days on the ISS and maintained significantly more muscle and bone density than ordinary mice.
The findings are written in a paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences it has strategic implications for therapeutics in preventing muscle and bone loss in astronauts during space travel.
But that’s not all, the findings could even help develop new treatments for diseases such as osteoporosis, gradual breakdown of bone tissue and spinal muscular atrophy.
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