Microgravity and microgravity analogue studies of cartilage and cardiac tissue engineering

Abstract

Space is the ultimate frontier, and the International Space Station (ISS) has been serving as a platform for creative science, developing technologies, and testing materials, instruments and processes under extreme conditions. One of the areas of greatest interest is human health, due to the important changes in human physiology during spaceflight: cardiovascular deconditioning, loss of bone and muscle, changes in immune system and vision, among many others. Studies in astronauts are revealing some of the underlying mechanisms of these changes and helping develop new modalities to prevent or treat the adverse effects of the space environment. However, controllable studies of tissue function under the conditions of microgravity remain critical for understanding the effect of spaceflight on human health, and dissecting-under controllable conditions-the factors affecting the development and function of our tissues and organs. The ability of engineered tissue constructs to recapitulate some of the critical and physiological functions opened many exciting avenues of research. In this chapter, we discuss representative ground-based analogue and spaceflight studies of tissue engineering relevant to understanding physiological changes in the environment of space. We focus on cartilage and myocardium as two of the most significant examples of tissues affected by the microgravity environment of spaceflight. In this context, we present the working principles and examples of application of biomaterial scaffolds and bioreactors for engineering cartilage and cardiac tissues. Finally, we discuss studies of tissue engineering on Earth, using systems that can model some aspects of microgravity, and in space, under the conditions of actual microgravity. We anticipate that future studies will lead to further increases in physiological relevance of the collected data, and catalyze creative thinking and the development of new products and technologies for improving human health.