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Effects of Spaceflight on the Human Gastrointestinal Tract Microbiome

  • Review Article
  • Published:
Journal of the Indian Institute of Science Aims and scope

Abstract

Space travel has been shown to affect various physiological and psychological processes in humans including the composition and function of the gut microbiome. In addition to the unique conditions of space, space travel is associated with changes in diet, circadian and diurnal rhythms, and physical activity, all of which can impact the gut microbiome. Additionally, the microgravity and radiation exposure encountered during space travel may have direct effects on gut microbiome composition and function. In this short review, we summarize the current state of knowledge on the effect of space travel on the human gut microbiome, including research designs that include animals (rodents), humans, and novel simulations. Experiments were conducted under conditions of spaceflight, ground-based, and analogous flight simulation.

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Data availability statement

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analyzed in this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA

    Amjad S. Almosa & Stefan J. Green

  2. Department of Biobehavioral Nursing Science, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Mark B. Lockwood

  3. Division of Infectious Diseases, Genomics and Microbiome Core Facility, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA

    Stefan J. Green

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  1. Amjad S. Almosa
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  2. Mark B. Lockwood
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Correspondence to Stefan J. Green.

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Almosa, A.S., Lockwood, M.B. & Green, S.J. Effects of Spaceflight on the Human Gastrointestinal Tract Microbiome. J Indian Inst Sci 103, 761–769 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41745-023-00384-7

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