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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 199 records · Page 11
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1996

Touch-plate and statolith formation in graviceptors of ephyrae which developed while weightless in space

Ultrastructural studies of the statocysts and touch-plates of graviceptors (rhopalia) of Aurelia ephyrae revealed that (1) touch-plate hair cells are present; and (2) cytoplasmic strands from the hair cell bases extend from the neurite plexus to touch similar strands from the lithocytes. This close association of hair cell neurites and statocysts may have important implications regarding the transmitting and processing of positional information with respect to the gravity vector. Graviceptors of ephyrae which developed while weightless in microgravity were compared with controls at the ultrastructural level. We found that hair cells of ephyrae which developed in microgravity had fewer lipid droplets in the large spaces near their bases as compared with 1 g controls. In the ephyrae from the first microgravity experiment, hair cells had more large apical vacuoles with filamentous content than were found in hair cells of ephyrae from the second experiment and controls. The neurite plexus and the network of cytoplasmic strands extending to the statocysts were not different in microgravity-developed ephyrae from controls. Behavioral differences in swimming and orienting in ephyrae in microgravity and controls (reported earlier) were not explained by morphological differences in the hair cells of the touch-plates or the statocysts, although functional differences apparently occurred.

NASA Discipline Developmental Biology↗
NASA NTRS1998

Postnatal development under conditions of simulated weightlessness and space flight

The adaptability of the developing nervous system to environmental influences and the mechanisms underlying this plasticity has recently become a subject of interest in space neuroscience. Ground studies on neonatal rats using the tail suspension model of weightlessness have shown that the force of gravity clearly influences the events underlying the postnatal development of motor function. These effects depend on the age of the animal, duration of the perturbation and the motor function studied. A nine-day flight study has shown that a dam and neonates can develop under conditions of space flight. The motor function of the flight animals after landing was consistent with that seen in the tail suspension studies, being marked by limb joint extension. However, there were expected differences due to: (1) the unloading of the vestibular system in flight, which did not occur in the ground-based experiments; (2) differences between flight and suspension durations; and (3) the inability to evaluate motor function during the flight. The next step is to conduct experiments in space with the flexibility and rigor that is now limited to ground studies: an opportunity offered by the International Space Station. Copyright 1998 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

Non-NASA Center↗