The effects of cosmic particle radiation on pocket mice aboard Apollo XVII: II. Characteristics and tolerances of the pocket mouse and incidence of disease.
Pocket mice are facultative homoiotherms with the ability to drop their metabolic rate dramatically while at rest or in response to environmental stresses. Under these conditions, they characteristically enter a state of prolonged torpor. These animals require no drinking water and they can live in darkness for many months without apparent ill effect. They tolerate a wide range of ambient temperature, ralative humidity, and oxygen pressure and have survied without food for a mean of 14 d at an ambient temperature of 20 degrees C (68 degrees F). Studies carried out on the pocket mouse colony used for the Apollo XVII flight revealed, in the animals tested, no serological evidence of viral disease, no pathogenic enterobacteria or respiratory Mycoplasma on culture, a 25% incidence of sarcosporidiosis, and a 2% incidence of chronic meningitis or meningoencephalitis. The conclusion reached is that the pocket mouse is a highly adaptive animal and very well suited for space flight.
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000818:Animals; D003359:Cosmic Radiation; D004780:Environment, Controlled; D006813:Humidity; D008581:Meningitis / Q000453:epidemiology; D008590:Meningoencephalitis / Q000453:epidemiology; D051379:Mice / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D008954:Models, Biological; D011830:Radiation Effects; D012523:Sarcocystosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D013026:Space Flight; D013696:Temperature; D014481:United States