Abstract:
Gravity has had a significant impact on the evolution of life on Earth with organisms developing necessary biological adaptations over billions of years to counter this ever-existing force. There has been an exponential increase in experiments using real and simulated gravity environments in the recent years. Although an understanding followed by discovery of counter measures to negate diminished gravity in space had been the driving force of research initially, there has since been a phenomenal leap wherein a force unearthly as microgravity is beginning to show promising potential. The current review summarizes pathophysiological changes that occur in multiple aspects of the cardiovascular system when exposed to an altered gravity environment leading to cardiovascular deconditioning and orthostatic intolerance. Gravity influences not just the complex multicellular systems but even the survival of organisms at the molecular level by intervening fundamental cellular processes, directly affecting those linked to actin and microtubule organization via mechano-transduction pathways. The reach of gravity ranges from cytoskeletal rearrangement that regulates cell adhesion and migration to intracellular dynamics that dictate cell fate commitment and differentiation. An understanding that microgravity itself is not present on Earth propels the scope of simulated gravity conditions to be a unique and useful environment that could be explored for enhancing the potential of stem cells for a wide range of applications as has been highlighted here.
摘要:
重力对地球上生命的进化产生了重大影响,生物在数十亿年的时间里发展了必要的生物适应性,以对抗这种永远存在的力量。近年来,使用真实和模拟重力环境的实验呈指数增长。尽管最初的研究驱动力是理解,然后发现消除太空重力减弱的对策,此后出现了惊人的飞跃,其中微重力之类的超凡脱俗的力量开始显示出有希望的潜力。当前的综述总结了当暴露于改变的重力环境时,在心血管系统的多个方面发生的病理生理变化,导致心血管失调和体位不耐受。重力不仅会影响复杂的多细胞系统,甚至会通过干预基本的细胞过程在分子水平上影响生物体的生存。通过机械转导途径直接影响与肌动蛋白和微管组织相关的那些。重力的范围从调节细胞粘附和迁移的细胞骨架重排到决定细胞命运决定和分化的细胞内动力学。对微重力本身不存在于地球上的理解推动了模拟重力条件的范围成为一种独特而有用的环境,可以探索这种环境,以增强干细胞在广泛的应用中的潜力。