Fig. 2: Changes in plasma metabolites after 3-day spaceflight.
a Pie charts showing pathway annotations of differentially abundant metabolites (adjusted p-value < 0.05, |logFC | >1) at R + 1 vs. Preflight. Gray portions of the pie chart represent measured but insignificant metabolites in the specified category, while colored portions are labeled by metabolite pathway name and frequency. b Volcano plot of metabolites based on differential abundance (logFC>1 in red, logFC < −1 in blue) at R + 1 vs. Preflight. Labeled points are differentially abundant metabolites with connections to spaceflight-related anemia, inflammation, and oxidative stress. c Box plots of the scaled abundance of select differentially abundant metabolites associated with purine metabolism, glycerophospholipid metabolism, and anemia and hemolysis. Data represents n = 4 astronauts averaged at the indicated condition with one technical replicate per astronaut at each timepoint. Boxes show the quartiles of the dataset while the whiskers extend to show the rest of the distribution except for outliers. d Diagram of the sphingomyelin cycle, which is enriched in spaceflight-affected metabolites. Annotation boxes represent metabolites significantly changed at R + 1 vs. Preflight, with increased abundance indicated in red, decreased abundance in blue, and no significant change in gray (only boxed metabolites were measured). The dashed boxes indicate significant changes in some, but not all, chain lengths of the indicated lipid species. e Violin plots showing the results of Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) assay performed on astronaut plasma. Repeated measures one-way ANOVA was performed to assess significance. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
