"Going to space is harsh on the human body, and as a new study from our research team finds, the brain shifts upward and backward and deforms inside the skull after spaceflight. The extent of these changes was greater for those who spent longer in space. As NASA plans longer space missions, and space travel expands beyond professional astronauts, these findings will become more relevant."
"On Earth, gravity constantly pulls fluids in your body and your brain toward the center of the Earth. In space, that force disappears. Body fluids shift toward the head, which gives astronauts a puffy face. Under normal gravity, the brain, cerebrospinal fluid and surrounding tissues reach a stable balance. In microgravity, that balance changes. Without gravity pulling downward, the brain floats in the skull and experiences various forces from the surrounding soft tissues and the skull itself."
"Earlier studies showed that the brain appears higher in the skull after spaceflight. But most of those studies focused on average or whole brain measures, which can hide important effects within different areas of the brain. Our goal was to look more closely. How we do our work We analyzed brain MRI scans from 26 astronauts who spent different lengths of time in space, from a few weeks to over a year."
Gravity on Earth pulls body and brain fluids toward Earth's center, maintaining a stable balance among brain tissue, cerebrospinal fluid, and surrounding tissues. In microgravity, that downward pull disappears and fluids shift toward the head, causing facial puffiness and allowing the brain to float within the skull. The brain moves upward and backward and deforms after spaceflight, with larger changes after longer missions. MRI comparisons that align each skull before and after flight allow measurement of brain shifts relative to the skull. Dividing the brain into many regions reveals localized effects that whole-brain measures can obscure.
Read at theconversation.com
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