Study NASA: Space Travel Can Speed up old age · Global Voices

Human blood cells sent into space began to lose their ability to create healthy new cells in a sign of accelerated aging, the study revealed.

Going into space can speed up biological aging, according to a new study that traced changes to human stem cells during the four missions in space.

The study, supported by the US Space Agency NASA, found that blood cells sent into space lost some of their ability to create healthy new cells and began to show genetic damage, both signs of accelerated aging.

“Space is the final stress test for the human body”, Dr. Catriona Jamieson, one of the authors of the study and director of the Sanford Staminal Cells Institute at the University of California San Diego in the United States.

Jamieson's team used tools enabled by Artificial Intelligence (Al) to track real-time changes to human cells sent on four SpaceX missions at the International Space Station (ISS)

They used hematophyetic stem cells and previous cells (HSPC), which are responsible for the production of blood cells, making them critical for human health, including the function of the immune system.

When these cells remained in space for 32 to 45 days, they began to lose their ability to create new healthy cells, the study revealed.

The signs of molecular erosion, for example DNA damage and shorter telomeres, become also more visible.

These findings are extremely important because they show that the stressful factors of space such as microgravity and galactic cosmic radiation can speed up the molecular aging of stem blood cells”, Jamieson said in a statement.

It is noteworthy that when these cells returned to Earth and settled in a healthier environment, some of the injuries began to fade, according to the study, which was published in the magazine Cell Stell Cell.

The findings underline the need for new measures to protect astronaut health during extended space missions. /Periscope/