[General patterns of bone atrophy in the absence of a weight load on the skeleton]

The rate of atrophic changes in spongy bones of the weightless man was estimated, using studies of human, dog and rat bones, as well as observations of neurological patients bed-stricken for a long time. Taking into consideration data on the literature on the bone status and mineral balance in real and simulated space flights, two models were built. The models make it possible to estimate osteoporosis of spongy bones of the axial skeleton in the absence of weight loading. One of the models--an intraspecies model for the human population--is based on the experimentally found rate of the physiological rearrangement of various spongy bones. The other--interspecies--model is built with reference to the parameters determining the rate, i. e. bone density and metabolism. The average monthly rates of axial bone losses calculated by means of the two independent methods are essentially identical. The data obtained allow prediction of the decrease of tolerance to head-to-feet impact acceleration as a function of flight duration.