How the human body reacts to the transition to deep-space travel – and then adapts, or doesn’t, to lengthy periods in a microgravity environment – remains a largely understudied area.
With NASA aiming to send astronauts to Mars in the 2030s, it’s become imperative to better understand the health consequences of long-duration missions. On this episode of Health Science Radio, we talk with Prem Subramanian, MD, PhD, professor, chief of neuro-ophthalmology and Clifford R. and Janice N. Merrill Endowed Chair at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
Subramanian is collaborating with CU Boulder aerospace engineering Associate Professor Allie Hayman, PhD, on research being performed in conjunction with a recent SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission. Last fall, the CU team sent specialized optical equipment into space to gather data from astronauts’ eyes.
“It’s a big issue because no one ever saw these SANS-type changes – the spaceflight associated neuro-ocular syndrome changes – until a person had been in space cumulatively for at least three months,” Subramanian said on the podcast.
“The really concerning thing about it is that we’ve had people stay now six months, nine months, 12 months, and even a little bit longer, and there doesn’t seem to be a stopping point for when these changes plateau (in space). … And so, as a result, NASA has ranked SANS as the No. 2 human health hazard in spaceflight, with the only thing exceeding it being radiation exposure.”
Listen to the episode:
Other topics discussed on the podcast include:
- Research on thyroid eye disease, particularly what leads to potentially disabling changes in the orbital tissues and how to treat or possibly prevent these problems.
- The latest research related to eyes and traumatic brain injuries (TBI). Subramanian and other researchers seek to better understand eye and associated issues, including balance problems, that stem from TBIs.
- The difference between papilledema and pseudopapilledema, and the latest imaging technology that’s improving the study of what’s happening behind the optic nerve.
- The causes of strabismus and the opening of a new adult strabismus clinic at the Sue Anschutz-Rodgers Eye Center on the CU Anschutz Medical Campus.
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