ISS flight linked to changes in mouse offspring — Live Science
Female laboratory mice that spent 42 days aboard the International Space Station were able to become pregnant and give birth to live offspring after returning to Earth. At the same time, researchers recorded signs of reduced reproductive potential in their second- and third-generation descendants. Live Science reports, citing a study published in the journal PNAS.
Experiment on the ISS
The experiment involved 20 female mice that stayed on the ISS for 42 days. They were compared with control groups of animals that did not travel to space. After returning, the mice that had been in orbit had fertility levels similar to those of the control animals. Their litters were somewhat smaller, but this difference was not statistically significant.
More pronounced differences were found in the offspring of these mice. Second-generation descendants had approximately 15% less muscle strength than animals from the control groups. Females of this generation were also more prone to stress according to the results of a behavioral experiment.
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Changes in subsequent generations
Second-generation mice were able to reproduce, but produced fewer litters, and the litters themselves were significantly smaller than those of the control animals. They also had lower levels of anti-Müllerian hormone, or AMH, whose level correlates with the overall reserve of egg cells. Lower AMH levels were also found in third-generation mice.
Study co-author Lane Christensen, a professor of cell biology and physiology at the University of Kansas Medical Center, suggested that the changes may be linked to accelerated aging caused by exposure to microgravity. At the same time, this mechanism and its connection to the animals' reproductive capacity still require confirmation.
The authors emphasize that results obtained in mice do not allow for a direct assessment of the consequences for astronauts and their families. Ulrike Luderer, director of the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health at the University of California, Irvine, who was not involved in the work, noted that deep-space flights may have more substantial consequences because of higher levels of cosmic radiation compared with conditions on the ISS.
