Determining muscle strength in space-flown caenorhabditis elegans a major impediment to long-duration space travel is loss of muscle mass and strength during spaceflight. Surprisingly, the small…

This is a $758,085.77 grant awarded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to Texas Tech University System, doing business as Texas Tech University, to study the effects of spaceflight on muscle strength in the worm Caenorhabditis elegans. The study aims to (a) demonstrate the flight-readiness of a miniaturized device for measuring worm muscle strength, (b) test the hypothesis that muscle strength decreases in spaceflight due to altered gene expression, and (c) quantify muscle strength loss across multiple worm generations. The project is a continuation of previous experiments on Earth and aboard the International Space Station. Successful measurements of muscle strength in spaceflight could make C. elegans a more comprehensive model for studying muscle physiology and translating discoveries to astronauts. The grant does not have a set-aside designation.

Determining muscle strength in space-flown caenorhabditis elegans a major impediment to long-duration space travel is loss of muscle mass and strength during spaceflight. Surprisingly, the small worm caenorhabditis elegans is a good, cost-effective model for studying the effects of spaceflight upon muscle. Our past experiments on earth and on the international space station have shown that the expression of key muscle genes that encode members of a muscle attachment complex is reduced in c. Elegans during spaceflight. A key open question is if and how these changes in gene expression result in reduced muscle strength in response to spaceflight. While reduced force production is documented for astronauts, IT is yet to be demonstrated for c. Elegans. To address this critical knowledge GAP, we developed a tiny new device that enables continuous measurement of worm muscle forces. Using this device, on earth, we have shown that defects in muscle attachment complexes lead to decline in worm muscle strength. Motivated by these past flight data and ground results, we propose to (a) demonstrate the flightreadiness of our miniaturized device for quantitative characterization of muscle strength of c. Elegans, (b) test our hypothesis, based on past flight data, that muscle strength decreases in flight as a result of altered muscle gene expression in the worm, and (c) quantify muscle strength loss in spaceflight across multiple worm generations. Successful measurements of muscle strength in flight will make c. Elegans a much more complete and comprehensive genomic model for muscle physiology, enabling meaningful translation of discoveries made in c. Elegans to astronauts. Our proposed studies have important spin out implications for sarcopenia (an urgent public health problem on earth) and may produce a terrestrial model for testing potential therapeutic interventions for muscle strength decline in flight.