Impact of spaceflight on the murine thymus and mitigation by exposure to artificial gravity during spaceflight
Impact of spaceflight on the murine thymus and mitigation by exposure to artificial gravity during spaceflight
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DOI：
10.1038/s41598-019-56432-9
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发表时间：
2019-12-27
影响因子：
4.6
通讯作者：
Akiyama, Taishin
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Horie, Kenta;Kato, Tamotsu;Akiyama, Taishin
航天飞行期间经历的环境可能会影响免疫系统，胸腺在航天飞行期间似乎会萎缩。然而，这种胸腺萎缩的分子方面仍有待阐明。在这项研究中，我们分析了在国际空间站（ISS）上大约1个月的小鼠胸腺。太空飞行后，胸腺体积显著缩小。值得注意的是，在ISS中使用离心笼将小鼠暴露于1 x g显著减轻了胸腺大小的减小。虽然航天飞行导致胸腺萎缩，但整体胸腺结构没有发生很大变化。然而，胸腺的RNA测序分析表明，在两个独立的航天样品中，细胞周期调节基因的表达显著减少。这些减少部分地被空间飞行期间的1x g照射抵消。因此，我们的数据表明，航天导致胸腺细胞增殖减少，从而减少胸腺的大小，暴露于1 × g可能会减轻航天引起的胸腺稳态的损害。
The environment experienced during spaceflight may impact the immune system and the thymus appears to undergo atrophy during spaceflight. However, molecular aspects of this thymic atrophy remain to be elucidated. In this study, we analysed the thymi of mice on board the international space station (ISS) for approximately 1 month. Thymic size was significantly reduced after spaceflight. Notably, exposure of mice to 1 x g using centrifugation cages in the ISS significantly mitigated the reduction in thymic size. Although spaceflight caused thymic atrophy, the global thymic structure was not largely changed. However, RNA sequencing analysis of the thymus showed significantly reduced expression of cell cycle-regulating genes in two independent spaceflight samples. These reductions were partially countered by 1 x g exposure during the space flights. Thus, our data suggest that spaceflight leads to reduced proliferation of thymic cells, thereby reducing the size of the thymus, and exposure to 1 x g might alleviate the impairment of thymus homeostasis induced by spaceflight.