Publications by authors named "Anna Wadhwa"
Spaceflight poses a myriad of environmental stressors to astronauts´ physiology including microgravity and radiation. The individual impacts of microgravity and radiation on the immune system have been extensively investigated, though a comprehensive review on their combined effects on immune system outcomes is missing. Therefore, this review aims at understanding the synergistic, additive, and antagonistic interactions between microgravity and radiation and their impact on immune function as observed during spaceflight-analog studies such as rodent hindlimb unloading and cell culture rotating wall vessel models.
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- The study investigates how male and female muscles respond to microgravity and partial-gravity environments, focusing on muscle size and strength changes in rats due to biological sex and hormone influence.
- Female rats experienced greater muscle loss and strength decline compared to males under both microgravity and partial-gravity conditions, regardless of surgical interventions like castration or ovariectomy.
- Findings suggest that female astronauts may require additional measures to reduce muscle atrophy during space missions to maintain their health and performance.
Article Synopsis
- Gonadal hormones like testosterone and estradiol affect muscle size and strength, but their impact in low-gravity environments like the Moon or Mars is unclear.
- This study tested the effects of gonadectomy (surgery to remove ovaries or testicles) on muscle atrophy in male and female rats exposed to microgravity and partial-gravity conditions.
- Results indicated that testosterone deficiency in males had little effect on muscle loss, while females with low estradiol showed greater muscle loss and experienced significant changes in their reproductive cycle under low-gravity conditions.
Epidemiologic studies have demonstrated that infections during pregnancy increase the risk of offspring developing Schizophrenia, Autism, Depression and Bipolar Disorder and have implicated interleukin-6 (IL-6) as a causal agent. However, other cytokines have been associated with the developmental origins of psychiatric disorders; therefore, it remains to be established whether elevating IL-6 is sufficient to alter the trajectory of neural development. Furthermore, most rodent studies have manipulated the maternal immune system at mid-gestation, which affects the stem cells and progenitors in both the primary and secondary germinal matrices.
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