Task Progress:
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NASA Research Announcement (NRA) NNJ10ZSA003N requested proposals to assess changes in elemental neurocognitive functions such as perception, motor control, memory, attention, language, executive function, and emotional processing following long duration spaceflight, using both behavioral assessments and monitoring technologies such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). In response to this call, we proposed to perform structural and functional MR brain imaging to identify the relationship between changes in crewmember neurocognitive function and neural structural alterations following a six month International Space Station mission. Our central hypothesis was that measures of brain structure, function, and network integrity would change from pre to post flight in crewmembers (Aim 1). Moreover, we predicted that these changes would correlate with indices of cognitive, sensory, and motor function in a neuroanatomically selective fashion (Aim 2). Our interdisciplinary approach utilizes cutting edge neuroimaging techniques and a broad range of sensory, motor, and cognitive assessments that were conducted pre flight, during flight, and post flight to investigate neuroplastic and maladaptive brain changes in crewmembers following long duration spaceflight. Success in this endeavor would 1) result in identification of the underlying neural mechanisms and operational risks of spaceflight-induced changes in behavior, and 2) identify whether a return to normative behavioral function following re-adaptation to Earth’s gravitational environment is associated with a restitution of brain structure and function or, instead, is supported by substitution with compensatory brain processes..
Over the past year, we have continued to make progress with our data analyses and dissemination of results. For example, we published our findings showing that mobility and balance decline from pre to postflight, suggesting possible disruption and/or down-weighting of vestibular inputs; these behaviors recovered to baseline levels within 30 days postflight. We also identified bimanual coordination declines pre to postflight; recovery to baseline levels was also evident within 30 days postflight. There were no performance changes in dual task cost during or following long duration spaceflight, although it may be that our secondary task was not sufficiently difficult to elicit effects. This work has been recently published (Tays et al. 2021, Frontiers in Neural Circuits). [Ed. Note: See Cumulative Bibliography.]
We also published a case study describing brain changes in a Crewmember who experienced an Aborted Launch ("CAL"). CAL's launch and landing experience was dissociated from prolonged microgravity exposure. Using MRI, we found that hypergravity exposure during the aborted launch did not induce lasting ventricular enlargement or intracranial fluid shifts resembling those previously reported with spaceflight. This case study therefore rules out hypergravity during launch and landing as a contributing factor to previously reported long-lasting intracranial fluid changes following spaceflight. This work was published in McGregor et al. 2021, Frontiers in Neurology.
We also reported our findings illustrating brain and behavioral evidence for sensory reweighting from pre to postflight. We used functional MRI to measure brain activity in response to vestibular stimulation pre and post-spaceflight. We also measured vestibularly-mediated behaviors, including balance, mobility, and rod-and-frame test performance. As expected, vestibular stimulation at the preflight sessions elicited activation of the parietal opercular area ("vestibular cortex") and deactivation of somatosensory and visual cortices. Pre to postflight, we found widespread reductions in this somatosensory and visual cortical deactivation, supporting sensory compensation and reweighting with spaceflight. These pre to postflight changes in brain activity correlated with changes in eyes closed standing balance, and greater pre to postflight reductions in deactivation of the visual cortices associated with less postflight balance decline. The observed brain changes recovered to baseline values by three months postflight. Together, these findings provide evidence for sensory reweighting and adaptive cortical neuroplasticity with spaceflight. These results have implications for better understanding compensation and adaptation to vestibular functional disruption. These findings were published in Hupfeld et al. 2022, Cerebral Cortex.
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Articles in Peer-reviewed Journals
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Tays GD, Hupfeld KE, McGregor HR, Salazar AP, De Dios YE, Beltran NE, Reuter-Lorenz PA, Kofman IS, Wood SJ, Bloomberg JJ, Mulavara AP, Seidler RD. "The effects of long duration spaceflight on sensorimotor control and cognition." Front. Neural Circuits. 2021 October 26;15:723504. https://doi.org/10.3389/fncir.2021.723504 ; PMID: 34764856; PMCID: PMC8577506 , Oct-2021
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Articles in Peer-reviewed Journals
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McGregor HR, Hupfeld KE, Pasternak O, Wood SJ, Mulavara AP, Bloomberg JJ, Hague TN, Seidler RD. "Case report: No evidence of intracranial fluid shifts in an astronaut following an aborted launch." Front. Neurol. 2021 Dec 9;12:774805. https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2021.774805 ; PMID: 34956056; PMCID: PMC8695608 , Dec-2021
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Articles in Peer-reviewed Journals
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Hupfeld KE, McGregor HR, Koppelmans V, Beltran NE, Kofman IS, De Dios YE, Riascos RF, Reuter-Lorenz PA, Wood SJ, Bloomberg JJ, Mulavara AP, Seidler RD. "Brain and behavioral evidence for reweighting of vestibular inputs with long-duration spaceflight." Cereb Cortex. 2022 Feb 8;32(4):755-69. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhab239 ; PMID: 34416764; PMCID: PMC8841601 , Feb-2022
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Articles in Peer-reviewed Journals
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Hupfeld KE, Richmond SB, McGregor HR, Schwartz DL, Luther MN, Beltran NE, Kofman IS, De Dios YE, Riascos RF, Wood SJ, Bloomberg JJ, Mulavara AP, Silbert LC, Iliff JJ, Seidler RD, Piantino J. "Longitudinal [magnetic resonance imaging] MRI-visible perivascular space (PVS) changes with long-duration spaceflight." Sci Rep. 2022 May 5;12:7238. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-11593-y ; PMID: 35513698; PMCID: PMC9072425 , May-2022
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Articles in Peer-reviewed Journals
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Mahadevan AD, Hupfeld KE, Lee JK, De Dios YE, Kofman IS, Beltran NE, Mulder E, Bloomberg JJ, Mulavara AP, Seidler RD. "Head-down-tilt bed rest with elevated CO2: Effects of a pilot spaceflight analog on neural function and performance during a cognitive-motor dual task." Front Physiol. 2021 Aug 25;12:654906. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2021.654906 ; PMID: 34512371; PMCID: PMC8424013 , Aug-2021
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