Physical parameters affecting living cells in space.
The question is posed: Why does a living cell react to the absence of gravity? What sensors may it have? Does it note pressure, sedimentation, convection, or other parameters? If somewhere in a liquid volume sodium ions are replaced by potassium ions, the density of the liquid changes locally: the heavier regions sink, the lighter regions rise. This may contribute to species transport, to the metabolism. Under microgravity this mechanism is strongly reduced. On the other hand, other reasons for convection like thermal and solutal interface convection are left. Do they affect species transport? Another important effect of gravity is the hydrostatic pressure. On the macroscopic side, the pressure between our head and feet changes by 0.35 atmospheres. On the microscopic level the hydrostatic pressure on the upper half of a cell membrane is lower than on the lower half. This, by affecting the ion transport through the membrane, may change the surrounding electric potential. It has been suggested to be one of the reasons for graviperception. Following the discussion of these and other effects possibly important in life sciences in space, an order of magnitude analysis of the residual accelerations tolerable during experiments in materials sciences is outlined. In the field of life sciences only rough estimates are available at present.
Langbein
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Battelle-Institute. V., Physical Technologies Department, Frankfurt, FRG.
D001692:Biological Transport / Q000502:physiology; D055592:Biophysical Phenomena; D001703:Biophysics; D002197:Capillary Action; D002468:Cell Physiological Phenomena; D018481:Convection; D018466:Gravity Sensing; D006874:Hydrostatic Pressure; D013026:Space Flight; D013696:Temperature; D014893:Weightlessness