Short Title:
CBS VNSCOR #2- Effects of GRCsim/HU/ICE on Behavior with Risk Prediction Model (Rosi)
Responsible HRP Element:
Human Factors and Behavioral Performance
Collaborating Org(s):
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Human Health Countermeasures (HHC) Element |
Space Radiation (SR) Element |
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Funding Status:
Active - Currently funded and in progress
Procurement Mechanism(s):
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Aims:
To ensure human safety during interplanetary space travel, we must understand the health risks of the stressors encountered in space, including ionizing radiation, confinement and altered gravity and develop mechanism-based models and tools to protect astronauts against negative effects of these stressors, especially those that affect behaviors critical for mission success. The central hypothesis of this proposal is that (a) exposure to CSS induces inflammatory responses and loss of synaptic integrity in behavior-controlling brain subregions that differ between males and females, (b) correlates of CNS inflammation are detectable in peripheral blood, and (c) quantitative measures of CNS tissue and plasma responses after CSS exposures can be used to build predictive models of differential susceptibility of males and females for long-term loss of sensorimotor, behavioral and cognitive functions.
Aim 1. Characterize the relative contributions of radiation, social and gravity stressors on sensorimotor, behavioral and cognitive functions and their possible synergistic interactions.
Aim 2. Investigate the quantitative relationships between neuroinflammation and synaptic changes in mice with sensorimotor, behavioral and cognitive deficits following combined spaceflight stress.
Aim 3. Characterize the molecular profiles in peripheral blood of mice exposed to CSS to develop surrogate blood biomarkers of susceptibility and resistance for specific behavioral impairments.
Aim 4. Integrate the relationships between tissue damage markers and behavior phenotypes in male and female mice exposed to space stressors, and develop multivariate models that predict impaired performance for behaviors that are relevant to astronauts on deep space missions.
Category:
Risk Characterization, Quantification
Subcategory:
Evidence or Risk Characterization
Description:
The purpose of this proposed study is to:
1) Determine the possible synergistic and individual effects of radiation exposure (GCRsim), isolation confinement stress and altered gravity on behavioral, cognitive and sensorimotor performance
2) establish if there are sex-dimorphic responses
3) develop predictive biomarkers for individual sensitivity
4) incorporate these results into a predictive statistical model for the extrapolation of performance decrement and
5) to estimate CNS risks in astronauts.
Internal Customers:
Human Factors and Behavioral Performance
Human Health Countermeasures
Space Radiation
External Customers:
None