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Updated: Sep 21, 2025

Mimicking a Space Mission to Mars Using Hindlimb Unloading and Partial Weight Bearing in Rats
Published on: April 4, 2019
αKlotho decreases after reduced weight-bearing from both spaceflight and hindlimb unloading
Jeffrey S Willey1, Serena Aunon-Chancellor2, Lauren A Miles3
1Department of Radiation Oncology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Section of Radiation Biology, Winston-Salem, NC, USA. jwilley@wakehealth.edu.
Abstract:
Alpha(α)Klotho, a soluble transmembrane protein, facilitates calcium-phosphorus homeostasis through feedback between bone and kidney and is a potential systemic biomarker for bone-kidney health during spaceflight. We determined if: (1) plasma αKlotho was reduced after both spaceflight aboard the ISS and hindlimb unloading (HU); and (2) deficiency could be reversed with exercise. Both spaceflight and HU lowered circulating plasma αKlotho: plasma αKlotho recovered with exercise after HU.
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