Presentation description

Both the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and commercial space companies are constantly pursuing trips to space of longer duration and further distances. Though space travel has allowed for impressive innovation across medical, scientific, and technological fields, the impact on the travelers' health has yet to be fully investigated. Astronauts often return from the extraterrestrial environment, after experiencing atypical exposures such as microgravity and increased radiation, with altered biologic physiology. Observations have been made that some of these physiologic changes bear similarities to that of the aging of the cardiovascular system, in particular the development of large artery stiffness (LAS). The development of LAS is multifactorial and includes modifications within the extracellular matrix, increased inflammation, and endothelial/smooth muscle cell dysfunction that can lead to hypertension, heart failure, and other end-organ dysfunction. Cellular senescence is characterized as a state of proliferative arrest, and a change of the cellular phenotype to a non-functional, pro-inflammatory, and pro-fibrotic state which has been shown to contribute to the development of LAS. Recent evidence suggests that exposure to the conditions of spaceflight, microgravity, and galactic cosmic radiation have the potential to induce cellular senescence and lead to premature vascular aging and LAS. Therefore, we aim to demonstrate the indirect and direct effects of senescence in response to interventions designed to mimic the hazards of spaceflight and examine their correlation to aortic stiffness.