In space, due to weightlessness, there is almost no load, which leads to joint wear in cosmonauts. However, as scientists from Sechenov University have discovered, a common natural protein found in milk and tear fluid may be able to save them. Lactoferrin helped preserve the properties of cartilage tissue under conditions of insufficient physical load. This opens up prospects for the prevention and treatment of joint and spinal diseases.
Researchers took three-dimensional models of cartilage tissue based on chondrocytes. Some samples were on board the ISS, while others were studied in a ground-based system simulating microgravity. After the samples returned to Earth, scientists compared the changes that occurred in the cartilage tissue.
In the ground experiment, lactoferrin allowed for better preservation of tissue properties, and this effect, in their opinion, may be promising for developing approaches applicable in terrestrial medicine – for example, with prolonged reduction of joint load. In the space experiment, the effect was less pronounced, so for real flight conditions, scientists plan to additionally select concentration ranges and, possibly, other methods of exposure.
Reduced mechanical load on tissues is characteristic not only of long-duration space flights. It is observed with a sedentary lifestyle, prolonged bed rest after injuries and surgeries, as well as with a number of diseases.
Another outcome of the study is the confirmation that some of the changes occurring in cartilage tissue under microgravity conditions can be reproduced in the laboratory, emphasized Artem Antoshin, head of the Center for Innovative Collagen Developments at the Institute of Regenerative Medicine of Sechenov University.