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Updated: Nov 11, 2025
Exploring the Effects of Spaceflight on Mouse Physiology using the Open Access NASA GeneLab Platform
Published on: January 13, 2019
Progressive increase in the complexity and translatability of rodent testing to assess space-radiation induced
Richard A Britten1, Laurie L Wellman2, Larry D Sanford2
1Department of Radiation Oncology, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, VA, 23507, USA; Department of Microbiology and Molecular Cell Biology, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, VA, 23507, USA; Leroy T Canoles Jr. Cancer Center, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, VA, 23507, USA; Center for Integrative Neuroscience and Inflammatory Diseases, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, VA, 23507, USA.
Abstract:
Ground-based rodent models have established that space radiation doses (approximately those that astronauts will be exposed to on a mission to Mars) significantly impair performance in a wide range of cognitive tasks. Over the last 40 years there has been a progressive increase in both the complexity and the translatability (to humans) of the cognitive tasks investigated. This review outlines technical and conceptual advances in space radiation rodent testing approaches, along with the advances in analytical approaches, that will make data from ground based studies more amenable to probabilistic risk analysis. While great progress has been made in determining the impact of space radiation on many advanced cognitive processes, challenges remain that need to be addressed prior to commencing deep space missions. A summary of on-going attempts to address existing knowledge gaps and the critical role that rodent studies will have in establishing the impact of space radiation on even more complex (human) cognitive tasks are presented and discussed.
