Table 5 The impact of spaceflight, radiation, and gravitational changes on rodent pregnancies
From: Understanding how space travel affects the female reproductive system to the Moon and beyond
Year | Reference | Study type | Tissue | Findings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1967 | Oyama et al.181 | Ground-based hypergravity | Pregnancy (rat) | Rats can mate and deliver at 2.5 g and 3.6 g (2 months of acclimation to centrifugation before mating); decreased rate of pregnancy with increasing gravity and no pregnancy at 4.7 g; increased neonatal mortality |
1982 | Serova et al.134 | Spaceflight COSMOS 1129 satellite | Uterus (rat) | Unmonitored mission, inconclusive whether signs of early pregnancy with resorption or cycle disturbances |
1984 | Serova et al.182 | Spaceflight space shuttle | Uterus Pregnancy (rat) | Decreased placental weight, lengthened labor. Lower birth weight; increased perinatal mortality |
1984 | Megory et al.183 | Ground-based hypergravity | Pituitary, plasma Pregnancy/postpartum (rat) | The number of fetuses decreased with increasing gravity; Pituitary prolactin (PRL) was lower in the hypergravity group, but it increased postpartum; Plasma PRL was lower in the hypergravity group and continued to decrease in postpartum. Above 3 g exposure resulted lethal effects on fetus and newborns |
1988 | Moore et al.184 | Ground-based hypergravity | Pregnancy Bone (mouse) | No pregnancy at 3.5 g; decreased fetal weights and reduced ossification in long bones of fetuses |
1997 | Burden et al.185 | Spaceflight space shuttle | Pituitary Ovary Postpartum (rat) | Postpartum: increase of plasma FSH concentration and decrease of pituitary LH content No significant change on pituitary/ovarian mass postpartum |
1997 | Wong et al.186 | Spaceflight space shuttle | Neonate Rat | D9–D20 gestation in space; increased perinatal morbidity in offsprings, similar birth weights |
1998 | Burden et al.187 | Spaceflight space shuttle | Uterus Pregnancy (rat) | D11–20 gestation in space; 37% decrease in myometrial smooth muscle volume; decreased pup mass at birth |
1999 | Burden et al.142 | Spaceflight space shuttle | Uterus Pregnancy (rat) | D11–20 gestation in space; decreased connexin 43 in myometrium thought to alter the synchronization and coordination of contractions during labor |
2000 | Ronca and Alberts136 | Spaceflight space shuttle | Labor contractions (pregnancy, rat) | Increased lordosis contractions; labor duration and birth weight nonsignificant after 9 or 11 days of spaceflight |
2002 | Yang et al.188 | Ground-based simulated microgravity | Corpus luteum cells Pregnancy (Rat) | D8 pregnant rate luteal cells exposed to microgravity; decreased levels of progesterone and increased apoptosis |
2002 | Baer et al.145 | Ground-based hypergravity | Plasma Pregnancy/Postpartum (rat) | Exposure to hypergravity D11-postnatal D10; oxytocin decreased in dams and prolactin was unchanged |
2012 | Casey et al.80 | Ground-based hypergravity | Pregnancy Lactation (rat) | Exposure to 2 g during pregnancy and lactation (GD11- early lactation). Did not affect labor; increased perinatal morbidity; lower weight. Prolactin, corticosterone, insulin levels and receptor expressions altered by hypergravity. Change in circadian rhythm and expression of clock genes in mammary gland and liver. |
2015 | Casey et al.189 | Spaceflight & ground-based hypergravity | Pregnancy Mammary gland (rat) | D11–D20 gestation in space, spaceflight affected lipid metabolism-related gene expressions in the mammary gland during late pregnancy. Both spaceflight and hypergravity altered the genes linked to metabolism and immune response in the mammary gland |
2020 | Steller et al.190 | Ground-based radiation | Pregnancy (mouse) | Low-dose neutron irradiation, increased in early resorption rate, decreased placental weight. No differences in birth length, birth weight and anomaly rate. |
2020 | Lei et al.118 | Ground-based radiation | Pregnancy (mouse) | Low-dose gamma radiation, irradiated embryos transferred into pseudopregnant females; dose-dependent decrease in live birth rate (21% at 0.5 mGy vs. 7.4% at 2 mGy) |
