[Clinical aspects of a change in the nervous system after 49-day head-down hypokinesis]

Clinical and neurological methods were used to investigate the state of the central nervous system of 9 healthy male test subjects during a 49-day head-down (at an angle of 4-6 degrees) bed rest experiment. Beginning with the 4-5th week polymorphic changes in the nervous state emerged and developed. They can be divided into three clinical syndromes: astheno-neurotic syndrome that of autonomic dysfunction and the syndrome of neuromuscular (trophic) and statokinetic disorders. In comparison with the clinostatic bed rest, head-down tilting brought about changes in the nervous system earlier and with a more distinct "acute" phase. This is in favour of the concept that hemodynamic changes in the brain and the upper body play a very important part in the pathogenetic mechanism that underlies most disorders accompanying bed rest.