title: The past, present, and future of National Aeronautics and Space Administration spaceflight diet in support of microgravity rodent experiments.
abstract: Rodents have been the most frequently flown animal model used to study physiological responses to the space environment. In support of future of space exploration, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) envisions an animal research program focused on rodents. Therefore, the development of a rodent diet that is suitable for the spaceflight environment including long duration spaceflight is a high priority. Recognizing the importance of nutrition in affecting spaceflight physiological responses and ensuring reliable biomedical and biological science return, NASA developed the nutrient-upgraded rodent food bar (NuRFB) as a standard diet for rodent spaceflight. Depending on future animal habitat hardware and planned spaceflight experiments, modification of the NuRFB or development of a new diet formulation may be needed, particularly for long term spaceflights. Research in this area consists primarily of internal technical reports that are not readily accessible. Therefore, the aims of this contribution are to provide a brief history of the development of rodent spaceflight diets, to review the present diet used in rodent spaceflight studies, and to discuss some of the challenges and potential solutions for diets to be used in future long-term rodent spaceflight studies.
authors.affiliation: Lockheed Martin Exploration and Science, Moffett Field, CA, USA. Electronic address: gwo-shing.sun-1@nasa.gov.
authors.forename: Gwo-Shing
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Division of Animal and Nutritional Sciences, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA.
authors.forename: Janet C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Tou
authors.affiliation: ASRC Research and Technology Solutions, Inc., Greenbelt, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Diane
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Beverly E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Girten
authors.affiliation: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Jacob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cohen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004032:Diet; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005526:Food, Formulated; D051379:Mice; D023421:Models, Animal; D009752:Nutritional Status; D051381:Rats; D013026:Space Flight; D014481:United States; D018557:United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration; D014893:Weightlessness
keywords: Nutrient-upgraded rodent food bars (NuRFB); Rodent diet; Spaceflight