Research on the adaptation of skeletal muscle to hypogravity: past and future directions

Thyroid Axis and Vestibular Physiopathology: From Animal Model to Pathology

A recent work of our group has shown the significant effects of thyroxine treatment on the restoration of postural balance function in a rodent model of acute peripheral vestibulopathy. Based on these findings, we attempt to shed light in this review on the interaction between the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis and the vestibular system in normal and pathological situations. Pubmed database and relevant websites were searched from inception through to 4 February 2023. All studies relevant to each subsection of this review have been included. After describing the role of thyroid hormones in the development of the inner ear, we investigated the possible link between the thyroid axis and the vestibular system in normal and pathological conditions. The mechanisms and cellular sites of action of thyroid hormones on animal models of vestibulopathy are postulated and therapeutic options are proposed. In view of their pleiotropic action, thyroid hormones represent a target of choice to promote vestibular compensation at different levels. However, very few studies have investigated the relationship between thyroid hormones and the vestibular system. It seems then important to more extensively investigate the link between the endocrine system and the vestibule in order to better understand the vestibular physiopathology and to find new therapeutic leads.

Responses of skeletal muscles to gravitational unloading and/or reloading

Adaptation of morphological, metabolic, and contractile properties of skeletal muscles to inhibition of antigravity activities by exposure to a microgravity environment or by simulation models, such as chronic bedrest in humans or hindlimb suspension in rodents, has been well reported. Such physiological adaptations are generally detrimental in daily life on earth. Since the development of suitable countermeasure(s) is essential to prevent or inhibit these adaptations, effects of neural, mechanical, and metabolic factors on these properties in both humans and animals were reviewed. Special attention was paid to the roles of the motoneurons (both efferent and afferent neurograms) and electromyogram activities as the neural factors, force development, and/or length of sarcomeres as the mechanical factors and mitochondrial bioenergetics as the metabolic factors.

Neuromuscular adaptation to microgravity environment

Morphological and/or functional char-acteristics of skeletal muscles have a greater adaptability in response to changes in environmental stimuli. For example, an atrophy associated with a shift of fiber characteristics toward fast-twitch type is a common adaptation of antigravity muscle to a microgravity environment. Neuromuscular responses and possible mechanisms of both neural and muscular adaptations to a microgravity environment are discussed in this article. Responses of morphological, metabolic, and contractile properties, as well as fiber phenotype, of muscles are briefly reviewed. Discussion is further extended to the patterns of electromyogram and tension development of muscle, responses of postural stability and locomotion, and/or motoneurons in order to study the mechanism for muscular adaptation to microgravity.

Survey of studies on how spaceflight affects rodent skeletal muscle

Rodent muscles have been examined in more than 89 spaceflight studies over the last 25 years with much variation in the procedures and results. Mission duration ranged from four days to three weeks, postflight data collection ranged from a few hours to two days after landing, and there is great diversity in the number, size, and age of the rats that have flown. Several different types and sizes of animal enclosures have also been used--a significant factor because cage design affects animal activity and muscle loading. Only a small percentage (approximately 16%) of the total number of striated muscles in the rat have been examined. We have identified both substantial redundancy and inconsistencies in the results from studies to date. However, many of these appear unavoidable due to the great variation in experimental protocol of the different missions. Nevertheless these studies repeatedly confirm that exposure to spaceflight decreases the mass of limb muscles and leads to muscle atrophy. The majority of missions were flown by the former Soviet Union, but the majority of papers have been published by U.S. researchers. A relatively small number of investigators (about 50) clustered into fewer than 15 identifiable research groups worldwide account for most of the results to date. These groups have had access to rodent muscle tissue from two to seven spaceflights each. International cooperation in the post-cold war era and the publication of future work in peer-reviewed international journals should help greatly in reducing redundancy and enriching our knowledge of how gravity affects biological systems.

Neuromuscular adaptation to actual and simulated weightlessness

The chronic "unloading" of the neuromuscular system during spaceflight has detrimental functional and morphological effects. Changes in the metabolic and mechanical properties of the musculature can be attributed largely to the loss of muscle protein and the alteration in the relative proportion of the proteins in skeletal muscle, particularly in the muscles that have an antigravity function under normal loading conditions. These adaptations could result in decrements in the performance of routine or specialized motor tasks, both of which may be critical for survival in an altered gravitational field, i.e., during spaceflight and during return to 1 G. For example, the loss in extensor muscle mass requires a higher percentage of recruitment of the motor pools for any specific motor task. Thus, a faster rate of fatigue will occur in the activated muscles. These consequences emphasize the importance of developing techniques for minimizing muscle loss during spaceflight, at least in preparation for the return to 1 G after spaceflight. New insights into the complexity and the interactive elements that contribute to the neuromuscular adaptations to space have been gained from studies of the role of exercise and/or growth factors as countermeasures of atrophy. The present chapter illustrates the inevitable interactive effects of neural and muscular systems in adapting to space. It also describes the considerable progress that has been made toward the goal of minimizing the functional impact of the stimuli that induce the neuromuscular adaptations to space.

Muscular atrophy following immobilisation. A review

Muscular atrophy regularly occurs as a consequence of immobilisation or disuse after sports injuries. Several experimental models deal with muscle atrophy and are suitable for investigations of the underlying mechanisms of muscle atrophy. Strength loss is the most evident response to atrophy. Muscle strength decreases most dramatically during the first week of immobilisation; little further weakening occurs later on. This is reflected in changes in the EMG of disused muscles and can also be observed in muscle weight and size of muscle fibres. Slow muscles with predominantly oxidative metabolism are most susceptible to atrophy as indicated by various findings: slow muscle fibers show greater atrophy than fast fibres; their relative and probably absolute number is decreased in atrophic muscles; in addition, the oxidative enzyme content is most severely affected by disuse. Atrophic muscle is characterised by a catabolic metabolism. The rate of protein synthesis is reduced and that of protein breakdown increased. Autophagic activities probably play an important role in early stages of muscular atrophy. The oxygen supply to disused muscle may be impaired, although myoglobin content is increased in atrophic muscle. The complete loss of mitochondrial function during the first days of disuse may be of aetiological importance. The amount of connective tissue is increased in atrophic muscle and surrounding periarticular tissue which may lead into a vicious circle of musculoskeletal degeneration. An almost complete recovery from atrophy is possible, yet often the recovery phase is much longer than the total immobilisation period.

Hypogravity-induced atrophy of rat soleus and extensor digitorum longus muscles

Prolonged exposure of humans to hypogravity causes weakening of their skeletal muscles. This problem was studied in rats exposed to hypogravity for 7 days aboard Spacelab 3. Hindlimb muscles were harvested 12-16 hours postflight for histochemical, biochemical, and ultrastructural analyses. The majority of the soleus and extensor digitorum longus fibers exhibited simple cell shrinkage. However, approximately 1% of the fibers in flight soleus muscles appeared necrotic. Flight muscle fibers showed increased glycogen, lower subsarcolemmal staining for mitochondrial enzymes, and fewer subsarcolemmal mitochondria. During atrophy, myofibrils were eroded by multiple focal losses of myofilaments; lysosomal autophagy was not evident. Tripeptidylaminopeptidase and calcium-activated protease activities of flight soleus fibers were significantly increased, implying a role in myofibril breakdown. Simple fiber atrophy appears to account for muscle weakening during spaceflight, but fiber necrosis is also a contributing factor.