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Stress Challenges and Immunity in Space pp 141–153Cite as

Innate Immunity Under Conditions of Space Flight

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Abstract

The innate immune system is one of the oldest host defense mechanisms against invading pathogens. Innate immune cells are able to recognise and phagocytose pathogens and activate the adaptive immune system through antigen presenting cells. Humans experience alterations of the innate immune system under many clinical conditions, which can under certain circumstances negatively affect the outcome of disease states. In space, a highly challenging environment for humans to survive in, changes in the innate immune system have been demonstrated but the full picture is still lacking. From initial observations gathered during the Apollo missions it is clear that astronauts become more susceptible to infection as a result of spaceflight. More recent investigations have demonstrated reduced reactive oxygen species generation and phagocytic abilities and attenuated global cellular immune responses. The innate immune pathways investigated in man in space to date have only just scratched the surface of the full antimicrobial mechanisms and armory available to cells of the innate immune system. Although research in humans in space is the gold standard, human spaceflight is a complex mixture of stressors, and is technically and financially challenging. Earth-based scenarios and models such as parabolic flight and head down tilt bed rest mimicking short term zero gravity, and confinement and isolation in hostile environments such as Antarctica, will help to elucidate the effects of specific and individual stressors on innate immunity.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank all the volunteers who participated in parabolic flight, bed rest, and isolation studies. We extend our thanks to the ISS crew members and to Dr. Boris Morukov (Institute for Biomedical Problems, Cosmonaut, mission director MARS500, Moscow Russian Federation) who supported – together with his co-workers – the IMMUNO study on the ISS and the entire research when conducted in Moscow. We also express our sincere appreciation to the NASA Immune Team of Dr. Clarence Sams and Dr. Brian Crucian at the Johnsons Space Centre (Houston, USA) who also supported a part of the research presented herein. We do much appreciate the support lent by Leslie Smith, Sandra Matzel and Marion Hörl. We do express our heartfelt thanks to Prof. Dr. Klaus Peter, Prof. Dr. Udilo Finsterer, and Prof. Dr. Frank Christ for having supported these research activities. We would like to kindly acknowledge the valuable support of the DLR Institute of Aerospace Medicine in Cologne (Prof. Dr. Rupert Gerzer, Dr. Ruth Hemmersbach and her team) and the DLR project management (Prof. Dr. Hans-Günter Ruyters, Dr. Hans-Ulrich Hoffmann, Dr. Ulrike Friedrich, Dr. Peter Gräf and their teams), the funding from the German National Space Program of the German Space Agency (DLR) on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi, grant Nrs. 50WB0523, 50WB0719, 50WB0919), and the efficient support the European Space Agency (ESA; Drs Patrik Sundblad, Jennifer Ngo-Anh, Mark Mouret and Elena Feichtinger) and the Centre National d’ Études Spatiales (CNES, Dr. Didier Chaput).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anaesthesiology, University of Munich, Munich, Germany

    Matthias Feuerecker, Ines Kaufmann, André Martignoni & Alexander Choukèr

  2. Department of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, Lister Unit, Northwick Park Hospital, London, UK

    Alex P. Salam

Authors
  1. Matthias Feuerecker
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  2. Alex P. Salam
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  3. Ines Kaufmann
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  4. André Martignoni
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  5. Alexander Choukèr
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alexander Choukèr .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Klinikum Großhadern, Klinik für Anästhesiologie und, Universitätsklinikum München, Marchioninistr. 15, München, 81377, Germany

    Alexander Chouker

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© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Feuerecker, M., Salam, A.P., Kaufmann, I., Martignoni, A., Choukèr, A. (2012). Innate Immunity Under Conditions of Space Flight. In: Chouker, A. (eds) Stress Challenges and Immunity in Space. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-22272-6_10

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