Fig. 2: Crewmembers show a decrease in gray matter volume in several subcortical brain regions and increase in ventricular volume after a winter-over at the Concordia station.
From: Transient gray matter decline during antarctic isolation: Roles of sleep, exercise, and cognition
Gray matter brain volume was lower in Hippocampus, Pallidum and Thalamus immediately after winter-over (Post1, A and C) as compared to baseline. Hippocampus and Pallidum volumes returned to baseline levels five months after return from Antarctica (B, D), but Thalamus volume remained lower. Volume of the Lateral, 3rd and 4th Ventricles all increased after winter-over (A), (C). Volume of the Lateral and 3rd ventricles remained elevated five months after return from Antarctica (B, D). All volumes are normalized to flying phantoms who were scanned at each site. Sensitivity analyses, individual trajectories and analyses for control subjects who did not winter-over are shown in the Supplemental Note 1. Note: Total cerebral white matter volume also decreased from Pre to Post1, but is not highlighted in red. Significance values are represented as *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001. All p-values shown are Bonferroni corrected. Error bars in C and D reflect 95% confidence intervals. Images were created using ggseg82.
