Effect of short-duration spaceflight on thigh and leg muscle volume.
OBJECTIVE
Human skeletal muscle probably atrophies as a result of spaceflight, but few studies have examined this issue. Thus, little is known about the influence of microgravity upon human skeletal muscle, nor is it possible to assess the validity of ground based models of spaceflight. This study tested the hypothesis that the magnitude of spaceflight induced muscle atrophy would be a function of flight duration and greater than that of bed rest.


METHODS
Three astronauts flew 9, 15, and 16 d in space. Volume of the knee extensor (quadriceps femoris), knee flexor (hamstrings, sartorius, and gracilis), and plantar flexor (triceps surae) muscle groups was measured using magnetic resonance imaging before and after spaceflight and during recovery. The volume of each muscle group in each image was determined by multiplying cross-sectional area by slice thickness. These values were subsequently summed to calculate muscle volume.


RESULTS
Volume changes in the knee extensor, knee flexor, and plantar flexor muscle groups ranged from -15.4 to -5.5, -14.1 to -5.6, and -8.8 to -15.9%, respectively. Muscle volume decreases normalized by flight duration ranged from 0.62 to 1.04% x d(-1). These relative changes appeared to be greater than those that we have reported previously for bed rest (Akima et al., J. Gravitat. Physiol. 4:15-22, 1997).


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that atrophy as a result of at least 2 wk of spaceflight varied among individuals and muscle groups and that the degree of atrophy appeared to be greater than that induced by 20 d of bed rest.
Akima
H
H
Department of Life Sciences (Sports Sciences), Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Meguro, Japan. akima@idaten.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Kawakami
Y
Y
Kubo
K
K
Sekiguchi
C
C
Ohshima
H
H
Miyamoto
A
A
Fukunaga
T
T
D018480:Astronauts; D001510:Bed Rest; D006801:Humans; D007866:Leg; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000473:pathology*; D009133:Muscular Atrophy / Q000175:diagnosis*; D013026:Space Flight; D013848:Thigh; D013997:Time Factors