SPACEFLIGHT OF HUVEC: AN INTEGRATED EXPERIMENT – SPHINX ONBOARD THE ISS

摘要

The spaceflight orthostatic challenge can promote inrnastronauts inadequate cardiovascular responses definedrnas cardiovascular deconditioning. In particular,rndisturbance of endothelial functions are known to leadrnto altered vascular performances, being the endothelialrncells crucial in the maintenance of the functionalrnintegrity of the vascular wall. In order to evaluaternwhether weightlessness affects endothelial functions, werndesigned, developed, and performed the experimentrnSPHINX – Spaceflight of HUVEC: an IntegratedrneXperiment – where HUVEC (Human Umbilical VeinrnEndothelial Cells) were selected as a macrovascular cellrnmodel system. SPHINX arrived at the InternationalrnSpace Station (ISS) onboard Progress 40P, and wasrnprocessed inside Kubik 6 incubator for 7 days. At thernend, all of the samples were suitably fixed andrnpreserved at 6℃ until return on Earth on Soyuz 23S.