Skip to main content
 
Notice: Users may be experiencing issues with displaying some pages on stanfordhealthcare.org. We are working closely with our technical teams to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. Thank you for your patience.
Stanford Health Care

Effects of Spaceflight on Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocyte Structure and Function.

Effects of Spaceflight on Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocyte Structure and Function. Stem cell reports Wnorowski, A., Sharma, A., Chen, H., Wu, H., Shao, N., Sayed, N., Liu, C., Countryman, S., Stodieck, L. S., Rubins, K. H., Wu, S. M., Lee, P. H., Wu, J. C. 2019

Abstract

With extended stays aboard the International Space Station (ISS) becoming commonplace, there is a need to better understand the effects of microgravity on cardiac function. We utilized human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) to study the effects of microgravity on cell-level cardiac function and gene expression. The hiPSC-CMs were cultured aboard the ISS for 5.5weeks and their gene expression, structure, and functions were compared with ground control hiPSC-CMs. Exposure to microgravity on the ISS caused alterations in hiPSC-CM calcium handling. RNA-sequencing analysis demonstrated that 2,635 genes were differentially expressed among flight, post-flight, and ground control samples, including genes involved in mitochondrial metabolism. This study represents the first use of hiPSC technology to model the effects of spaceflight on human cardiomyocyte structure and function.

View details for DOI 10.1016/j.stemcr.2019.10.006

View details for PubMedID 31708475