An international team of space doctors has come to the conclusion that the kidney functions of participants in future expeditions to Mars will be affected as a result of the accelerated development of kidney disease.
"Unless we develop new ways to protect the kidneys, astronauts who successfully reach Mars will have to undergo dialysis on their way back to Earth," University College London's press service quoted Keith So, a researcher at the college, as saying. Radiation damage to the kidneys only becomes apparent by the time it becomes clear that kidney failure has already occurred. "It will be impossible to prevent it, which will lead to mission failure."
The researchers reached this conclusion within the framework of a project aimed at comprehensively studying changes in kidney function during prolonged exposure to weightlessness and in an interplanetary environment. To obtain such information, they analyzed samples of blood and other biological fluids collected from 66 participants in long-term flights to the International Space Station, and they also studied the effect of weightlessness and cosmic rays on the kidneys of rodents.
The researchers reached this conclusion within the framework of a project aimed at comprehensively studying changes in kidney function during prolonged exposure to weightlessness and in an interplanetary environment. To obtain such information, they analyzed samples of blood and other biological fluids collected from 66 participants in long-term flights to the International Space Station, and they also studied the effect of weightlessness and cosmic rays on the kidneys of rodents.
Keith Su said: “During these experiments, we monitored how the vital activity of the organs of mice and rats changed during real flights into space, as well as in terrestrial laboratories, where the animals were exposed to radiation that simulates cosmic rays for a long period. The researchers evaluated the impact of a one-and-a-half-year mission.” Or two and a half years to Mars on kidney function in rodents.
These experiments showed a large number of negative changes in the functioning of the kidneys, and not all of them were related to the effects of cosmic radiation. In particular, evidence was found that after only one month of weightlessness, the structure of the nephron, the basic structural element of the kidney, changes, leading to disturbances in the calcium cycle and contributing to the formation of kidney stones.
Long-term exposure to cosmic rays on the kidneys leads to worsening kidney failure, and also leads to the emergence of other disorders in the functioning of nephrons about six months after the start of radiation, which ultimately leads to the development of irreversible kidney damage and kidney failure. According to scientists, all this indicates the need to develop methods that would normalize the work of nephrons in a state of weightlessness and protect the kidneys from the effects of cosmic rays.”