REVIEW

Structural and functional changes in the brain of cosmonauts under the influence of microgravity

Latartsev KV1,2, Demina PN1, Yashina VA1,2, Kaspranskiy RR1
About authors

1 Federal Research and Clinical Center of Space Medicine of Federal Medical Biological Agency, Moscow, Russia

2 Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia

Correspondence should be addressed: Konstantin V. Latartsev
Shchukinskaya, 5, st. 2, Moscow, 123182, Russia; moc.liamg@vestratal.k

About paper

Funding: the review was supported financially under the State Task “Structural and functional changes in the human brain and their effect on operator actions at different timepoints of the term of adaptation to simulated microgravity” (code “Cerebrum A”).

Author contribution: Latartsev KV — analysis of source materials, article authoring and editing; Demina PN — search for source materials, analysis thereof; Yashina VA — search for source materials, analysis thereof; Kaspransky RR — study conceptualization, search for source materials, manuscript editing.

Received: 2024-01-19 Accepted: 2024-02-07 Published online: 2024-06-03
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During a space flight, cosmonauts have to adapt to new unique environmental conditions. As a result, they accumulate changes to their bodily systems that can eventually cause undesirable consequences potentially detrimental to the success of the mission. The review examines research papers investigating functional and structural changes occurring in the brain in the context of a spaceflight. Microgravity is believed to be the main factor behind the said changes: it causes redistribution of fluid in the body and conditions adaptive neural rearrangements at the microstructural level. Other elements peculiar to a spaceflight that can have this or that effect on the brain are also considered. In addition, this review scopes publications that allow assumptions about the specific causes of the registered morphofunctional alterations in the brain of cosmonauts.

Keywords: brain, functional connectivity, microgravity, neuroplasticity, microstructural changes, somatosensory adaptation, fluid redistribution

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