Human muscle atrophy in supportlessness: effects of short-term exposure to dry immersion
Shenkman, B.S.; Kozlovskaya, I.B.; Nemirovskaya, T.L.; Tcheglova, I.A.
Journal of Gravitational Physiology a Journal of the International Society for Gravitational Physiology 4(2): P137-P138
1997
ISSN/ISBN: 1077-9248 PMID: 11540680 Document Number: 483464
Atrophy of skeletal muscle is a response that is considered as the most consistent under conditions of real and simulated weightlessness. Microgravity is transformed in the motor system into a number of factors, the most important of them are considered axial unloading and support unloading. The effects of support stimulus may be evaluated in studies under conditions of dry immersion (DI) which provides the equal distribution of the mechanical pressure (e.g. hydrostatic pressure) throughout the surface of the body. Thus the deprivation of the gradient of the mechanical pressure simulates the supportless conditions. The study was aimed to test if the support unloading simulated in dry immersion induces not only functional but also structural alterations in human postural muscles.