The learned brain<\/strong><\/p>\nTo study brain structure and function after spaceflight, the researchers used a brain imaging technique called fiber tractography. <\/p>\n
\u201cFiber tractography gives a sort of wiring scheme of the brain. Our study is the first to use this specific method to detect changes in brain structure after spaceflight,\u201d explained Wuyts.<\/p>\n
Wuyts and his team acquired diffusion MRI (dMRI) scans of 12 male cosmonauts before and right after their spaceflights. They also collected eight follow-up scans, seven months after spaceflight. The cosmonauts all engaged in long-duration missions of an average length of 172 days.<\/p>\n
The researchers found proof of the concept of \u2018the learned brain\u2019; in other words, the level of neuroplasticity the brain has to adapt to spaceflight. \u201cWe found changes in the neural connections between several motor areas of the brain,\u201d said first author Andrei Doroshin, of Drexel University. \u201cMotor areas are brain centers where commands for movements are initiated. In weightlessness, an astronaut needs to adapt his or her movement strategies drastically, compared to Earth. Our study shows that their brain is rewired, so to speak.\u201d<\/p>\n
The follow-up scans revealed that after seven months of returning to Earth, these changes were still visible. <\/p>\n
\u201cFrom previous studies, we know that these motor areas show signs of adaptation after spaceflight. Now, we have a first indication that it is also reflected at the level of connections between those regions,\u201d continued Wuyts.<\/p>\n
The authors also find an explanation for anatomical brain shifts observed after spaceflight.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe initially thought to have detected changes in the corpus callosum<\/em>, which is the central highway connecting both hemispheres of the brain,\u201d explained Wuyts. The corpus callosum<\/em> borders the brain ventricles, a communicating network of chambers filled with fluid, which expand because of spaceflight.<\/p>\n\u201cThe structural changes we initially found in the corpus callosum<\/em> are actually caused by the dilation of the ventricles that induce anatomical shifts of the adjacent neural tissue,\u201d said Wuyts. \u201cWhere initially it was thought that there are real structural changes in the brain, we only observe shape changes. This puts the findings in a different perspective.\u201d<\/p>\nThe future of spaceflight research<\/strong><\/p>\nThe study illustrates a need for understanding how spaceflight affects our body, specifically via long-term research on the effects on the human brain. Current countermeasures exist for muscle and bone loss, such as exercising for a minimum of two hours a day. Future research may provide evidence that countermeasures are necessary for the brain.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese findings give us additional pieces of the entire puzzle. Since this research is so pioneering, we don\u2019t know how the whole puzzle will look yet. These results contribute to our overall understanding of what\u2019s going on in the brains of space travelers. It is crucial to maintain this line of research, looking for spaceflight induced brain changes from different perspectives and using different techniques,\u201d concluded Wuyts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A new study published in Frontiers in Neural Circuits is the first to analyze the structural connectivity changes that happen in the brain after long-duration spaceflight. The results show significant microstructural changes in several white matter tracts such as the sensorimotor tracts. The study can form a basis for future research into the full scope of brain changes…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":8312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/frontiersinblog.files.wordpress.com\/2022\/02\/frontiers-in-neural-circuits-cosmonaut-astronaut-brain-rewired-long-duration-spaceflight.png","fifu_image_alt":"Brains of Cosmonauts Get \u2018Rewired\u2019 to Adapt to Long-Term Space Missions, Study Finds","footnotes":""},"categories":[207],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8299"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8311,"href":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8299\/revisions\/8311"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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