Learning from mice knees

Jeff Willey, a Ph.D. fellow in translational radiation oncology at Wake Forest Baptist, will study the knee joints of 15 mice that were aboard the final space flight of the shuttle Atlantis. Credit: WAKE FOREST BAPTIST HEALTH

Fifteen small, soft, furry passengers along for the last flight of the U.S. space shuttle will end up at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center , where researchers will study samples of their tiny knee joints.

The mice are among 30 on board the Atlantis shuttle for use in studies on the effects of space travel on the skeletal system. Labs at UNC- Chapel Hill , Harvard University and the University of Colorado also have projects based on the shuttle critters.

Dr. Jeff Willey , a Ph.D. fellow in translational radiation oncology at Wake Forest Baptist , will take specimens of cartilage and menisci to study the effects of zero gravity on how bones and joints are used. Willey said the goal of the research is to determine whether prolonged stays in space can cause joint deterioration in astronauts.

"What we're trying to identify is that if during space flight is there any deterioration of these pads in the knee joint called menisci during periods of micro gravity which can lead to osteoarthritis ," Willey said.

At least for the foreseeable future, experiments of this kind will be hampered because the shuttle program is being discontinued, Willey said. Opportunities to study the effects of zero gravity or space flight on the body will be limited to research that can be conducted in the International Space Station through limited federal and international grants.

"In the future, unfortunately, until we have the ability to go back into space and study the space flight environment and its effects on the body, we would have to depend on rockets that service the International Space Station , and without the shuttle, that is what will limit us now," Willey said.

Dr. Ted Bateman , a lead researcher for the UNC experiments, said the type of research he and Willey are doing is not that reliant on space flight. And he said commercial companies will take over the research role the shuttle once served.

"The next generation of launch vehicles will be unmanned and operated by commercial companies other than NASA . In the next few years, private companies like Space X will be providing supplies to the International Space Station through unmanned rockets, and we hope that in the next three to five years we will be able to send some mice up with the unmanned capsules," Bateman said.

Willey , along with other researchers, will return Sunday to Florida to collect the 15 mice for the Wake Forest Baptist study. He will surgically remove samples of the mice's menisci and compare them with a control group of 30 mice of the same age that remained in the lab.

The launch July 8 marked the end of a 30-year history of America's space shuttle program.

Source: http://www2.journalnow.com