The Effects of Hypergravity and Microgravity on Biomedical Experiments

Description

Take one elephant and one man to the top of a tower and simultaneously drop. Which will hit the ground first? You are a pilot of a jet fighter performing a high-speed loop. Will you pass out during the maneuver? How can you simulate being an astronaut with your feet still firmly placed on planet Earth? In the aerospace environment, human, animal, and plant physiology differs significantly from that on Earth, and this book provides reasons for some of these changes. The challenges encountered by pilots in their missions can have implications on the health and safety of not only themselves but others. Knowing the effects of hypergravity on the human body during high-speed flight led to the development of human centrifuges. We also need to better understand the physiological responses of living organisms in space. It is therefore necessary to simulate weightlessness through the use of specially adapted equipment, such as clinostats, tilt tables, and body suspension devices. Each of these ideas, and more, is addressed in this review of the physical concepts related to space flights, microgravity, and hypergravity simulations. Basic theories, such as Newtons law and Einsteins principle are explained, followed by a look at the biomedical effects of experiments performed in space life sciences institutes, universities, and space agencies. Table of Contents: General Concepts in Physics - Definition of Physical Terms / The Effects of Hypergravity on Biomedical Experiments / The Effects of Microgravity on Biomedical Experiments / References The Effects of Hypergravity and Microgravity on Biomedical Experiments......Page 1 Keywords......Page 4 Contents......Page 5 1.1 GRAVITY AND RELATED CONCEPTS......Page 7 1.2 WEIGHT VERSUS MASS AND INERTIAL MASS......Page 10 1.3 APPARENT WEIGHT AND NORMAL FORCE......Page 11 1.4 THE EINSTEIN PRINCIPLE......Page 13 1.5 MICROGRAVITY......Page 14 1.7 PARTIAL-GRAVITY ENVIRONMENTS ON EARTH......Page 19 1.7.3 Body Suspension Devices......Page 20 1.8 Hypergravity......Page 21 2.1 HYPERGRAVITY AND HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY......Page 23 2.1.1 Positive Gz Effects......Page 24 2.1.2 Negative Gz Effects......Page 26 2.2 G IMPACT IN SPACE MISSIONS......Page 27 2.3 HUMAN CENTRIFUGES......Page 30 2.4 THE MICROGRAVITY CENTRE HYPERGRAVITY EXPERIMENTS......Page 34 2.5.1 System of Tubes Simulating the Column of Blood......Page 36 2.5.2 Magnetic Rings Representing Intervertebral Disks......Page 37 2.5.3 Spring and Rubber Band With an Attached Mass Modeling Muscle Function......Page 39 2.5.4 Eruca sativa Mill (Rocket Plant)......Page 40 3.1 GROUND-BASED MICROGRAVITY SIMULATION......Page 45 3.1.1 Bed Rest and Bed Rest-Associated HDT......Page 46 3.1.2 Tilt Tables......Page 47 3.1.3 Water Immersion (Neutral Buoyancy)......Page 52 3.1.4 Immobilization......Page 54 3.1.5 Body Suspension Devices......Page 55 3.1.6 Barany’s Chair......Page 56 3.1.7 3D Clinostat......Page 58 Humidity and Temperature Sensors......Page 64 Experimental Use of the Clinostat With Human Cells......Page 65 3.3 CELL PROLIFERATION/VIABILITY ASSAY......Page 66 3.3.2 Proliferation and Cellular Viability With PBMCs in Microgravity Simulation......Page 67 3.3.3 Proliferation and Viability Assay......Page 68 References......Page 71 Author Biography......Page 75