Are identical twins still Kelly after the trip into space?

One of the most curious research projects in the population is that of twin astronauts and sheds new light on this process.

What's going on in the body of an astronaut aboard the International Space Station? Is your body or health changing? How does this compare to the status of your twin on Earth?

Ten research teams came together to form the Nasa Twins project, an integrated study that badyzed two identical – now retired – astronauts to badyze the changes and subtle effects that can occur during a space flight.

This has been done in people who have the same genetics, but who are in different environments for one year. How While Scott Kelly was spending 340 days in space, his brother Mark Kelly was on Earth.

From this experiment, a dozen studies are divided into different categories, such as human physiology, health, microbiology and molecular biology. And just today, after 58 years of its first manned space flight, this report marks a milestone in genomics and future missions that aspire to reach Mars. Already 559 humans have flown into space and the missions are becoming more and more extensive, even though it is for the moment strange to say that someone remained a year off the Earth .

Kumar Sharma, MD, and Manjula Darshi, Ph.D., of the UT Heatlh San Antonio Long Medical School, as well as Brinda Rana, Ph.D., of the University of California, were leading a teams.

The study consists of an integrated molecular, physiological and cognitive badysis of changes occurring during a space flight and was published today in the journal Science.

It badyzes the changes in the composition of the bacteria in the body. chromatin, which refers to the proteins and genetic material that make up our chromosomes; Transcription of RNA, as well as some cognitive and physiological measures.

"It's about opening the door to an badysis that could not be done before and that will be important to astronauts when they go into space for long-term missions, such as only flights to Mars, "said Andy Feingber, director of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine's Epigenetics Center at a worldwide press conference at which EL HERALDO had access.

Samples were collected and badyzed before, during and after the space mission for 27 months.

Although Scott Kelly's DNA has not changed, researchers have observed changes in gene expression, which are essentially the body's response to the environment.

Doctors Sharma and Darshi focused their research on mitochondria, key to the body's energy supply, and on the metabolites, small molecules involved in the energy production process.

This badysis revealed that a metabolite called lactate increased in Scott Kelly during his space flight and returned to normal after returning to Earth. "It was very exciting for us because lactate is directly related to mitochondrial function," said Darshi.

Explanation for this? Almost this brings us back to a school biology clbad, we will find part of the answer.

When mitochondria can not produce the energy necessary for normal cell functions, they switch to an alternative process called glycolysis, in which glucose is metabolized by enzymes and generates lactate.

The above indicates to researchers that their mitochondria do not function normally in space. The determination was later compared to other studies and confirmed this conclusion.

Aging

Telomeres are almost the ones stealing the show in this study. In this part, we have studied the biomarkers of aging, especially the telomeres, which end up being the ends of our chromosomes, which shorten as we age.

"They can serve as accelerated aging biomarkers and pose a health risk badociated with cardiovascular disease or cancer, so environmental exposure such as space radiation and microgravity can accelerate telomere loss," said Susan Bailey. Principal investigator of this study at the University of Colorado.

As a result, they evaluated the lengths before, during and after the mission and surprised! The result was an elongation of these.

"So, Scott's telomeres were longer than they had been during spaceflight," Bailey added. However, it was not just there. "Then we noticed a decrease when we came to Earth, so it was a big surprise." So now research will focus on how these changes in telomere length during spaceflights could occur. .

Onshore changes

For the tranquility of many, all factors returned to "normal" six months after their return to Earth. "This will be essential information to know how much these changes are permanent in longer flights," said Michael Snyder, Ph.D., principal investigator at Stanford University.

He warns that by exposing our body to an unusual environment such as space, it is subject to various stressful situations that open the door to different variations, "but everything will return to normal as soon as you come back on Earth, "he said. .

The mission

It was a joint mission of the United States and Russia from March 2015 to March 2016. Meanwhile, Astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko were aboard the Space Station, in the purpose of studying the effects it produces living spaces and work.

These studies, according to the experts, should help to determine the risks of space exploitation and the aspects necessary to mitigate them, guaranteeing the safety of each mission.