Response to 45 degrees head-down tilt as measured by organ weight/body weight ratios and spiral computed tomography

Exposure to microgravity or simulated microgravity causes significant shifts in body fluids which may initiate physiological adaptations to the microgravity stressor. It is imperative to understand the physiological adaptations to microgravity in order to develop appropriate countermeasures to the deleterious aspects (i.e., muscle and bone wasting) of long-term spaceflights.

The significant shifts in body fluids by 45 degrees head-down tilt can be measured by changes in organ weight/body weight (OW/BW) ratios and non-invasively by spiral computed tomography.

In a previous study (14), rats were weighed and exposed to either 45 degrees head-down tilt (45HDT) or a prone control position for one of the following experimental times: 0.5 h, 1 h, 2 h, 4 h, 8 h, or 24 h. A radioactive tracer was injected intramuscularly immediately prior to the start of the experimental time periods. At the end of the experiment, the major organs were harvested, weighed, and measured for gamma radiation levels. We used the organ weights from this previous study to calculate OW/BW ratios for the present study. Additionally, in the present study, rats in the 14-d experimental groups were weighed, lightly anesthetized to facilitate placement in the 45HDT position, and placed in a specially designed 45HDT cage (45HDT group) or left unrestrained in the cages (control group). At the end of the 14-d experimental time period, the rats were anesthetized and their lung densities measured with spiral computed tomography.

The OW/BW ratios for the liver, kidneys, and spleen of 24 h 45HDT rats were significantly lower (p<0.05) than control values while at 1 h the 45HDT rats had a higher kidney OW/BW ratio. Lung density from the 14-d 45HDT rats was 24.4% greater than control rats' values.

The physiological change due to the 45HDT position to simulate microgravity begins as early as 1 h, and the kidney appears to be the first organ affected. Spiral computed tomography may offer a viable method of non-invasively measuring organ densities in the 45HDT model. The OW/BW data generated in the present study does not correlate with the changes in radioactive tracer distribution data from our previous study.