title: Microgravity alters basal and insulin-mediated metabolic activity of normal and neoplastic cells.
abstract: In this paper we report the behaviour of normal vascular smooth muscle cells and transformed breast cancer cells under normal versus simulated microgravity conditions by comparing cell proliferation, Glucose transport, Methionine uptake and protein synthesis. Modeled microgravity profoundly affects cell growth (especially in normal cells) and Glucose or Methionine metabolism (although to different extent in the two cell lines). Since both cells own responsive insulin receptors, the comparison was extended to insulin-stimulated versus unstimulated conditions. We report that the detected metabolic changes were strongly enhanced when the cells were simultaneously stimulated with insulin and subjected to modeled microgravity stress. Such observations may have important returns for human health in space; they deserve further attention.
authors.affiliation: Dpt. di Scienze Fisiologiche Biochimiche e Cellulari-Università di Sassari, Sassari, Italy. coinu@uniss.it
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Coinu
authors.forename: Grazia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Galleri
authors.forename: Proto
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pippia
authors.forename: Maria Giovanna
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Tilocca
authors.forename: Mariantonia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Meloni
authors.forename: Bianca
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Covelli
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chiaviello
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Palumbo
mesh_terms: D000596:Amino Acids / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D019149:Bioreactors; D001943:Breast Neoplasms; D002460:Cell Line; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000166:cytology; D005260:Female; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D007328:Insulin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D008715:Methionine / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012399:Rotation; D013936:Thymidine / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured / Q000166:cytology; D018474:Weightlessness Simulation
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D007328:Insulin; D008715:Methionine; D005947:Glucose; D013936:Thymidine