Space Travel May Not Be Healthy for Heart Muscle

Long-term space travel to Mars could be bad for astronauts’ hearts, a new zero-gravity study shows. After a month at the International Space Station, a set of 48 bioengineered human heart tissue samples beat about half as strong as similar tissues that remained on Earth.

The tissues also became weaker and started showing genetic evidence of inflammation and oxidative damage that are hallmarks of heart disease, researchers reported Sept. 23 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“An incredible amount of cutting-edge technology in the areas of stem cell and tissue engineering, biosensors and bioelectronics, and micro-fabrication went into ensuring the viability of these tissues in space,” said project leader Deok-Ho Kim, a professor of biomedical engineering and medicine at Johns Hopkins Medicine.

SOURCE: Johns Hopkins Medicine, news release, Sept. 23, 2024

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