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Applications to Aerospace Medicine

Conventional MRI is not applicable in micro-gravity due to the use of cryogenic liquids for superconducting magnets and their high weight. Mobile systems will be tested to study/monitor muscle atrophy and fluid shifts in human extremities. Additionally, the different hydrostatic pressures in feet and head during standing on earth controls local mechanisms of fluid volume regulation in the skin. In the absence of gravity the skin of legs reduces its fluid volume while the skin of the head is swelling visibly as the so called “puffy face". Localised ¹H NMR measurements in the human skin using a single sided device (e.g. “Lift Mouse") will allow the determination of changes in free and protein bound water content in profiles of 10 µm resolution. Aim is to examine non-invasively centrally determined and local regulation mechanisms of fluid volume in the skin in response to gravity, sodium metabolism, and locally applied hormones or drugs. It is emphasised that during the first 3 years microgravity will only be simulated and the suitability of the devices will be tested (no space missions are envisioned).

Profile through human skin with the "Lift Mouse" (ITMC)