A team including UCF’s Michal Masternak identified molecular changes in the liver that occur when humans experience radiation and microgravity in space. These changes, which resemble accelerated aging, provide insight into health risks for astronauts and could inform understanding of aging on Earth.
After exposing animals to simulated microgravity and cosmic radiation, the team found potentially harmful changes in the animals’ livers. They identified similar changes in astronaut blood samples. Studying aging in humans is difficult because of the time scale. “But if we see some acceleration of aging in space, then we can translate it to human studies. We can observe processes happening much faster, understand them better and eventually use that knowledge to improve health for people here on Earth,” says Masternak.
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