Characterization of mouse ocular response to a 35-day spaceflight mission: Evidence of blood-retinal barrier disruption and ocular adaptations.

In a recent study conducted by NASA with SpaceX's help, scientists sent mice into space for research purposes as part of their ninth Rodent Research experiment (RR-9). The goal was to understand how living in microgravity affects the health and daily lives of these animals. To do this, they took 20 male mice that were about a month old and put them on board the International Space Station for almost two months before bringing them back safely to Earth with help from another spacecraft called Dragon capsule. During their time in space, all living conditions such as temperature (kept at around room temperature) and light/dark cycles mimicking daytime were carefully controlled just like on the ground. The scientists wanted everything for these special "ground control" or GC group of mice to be exactly the same as what they experienced during their flight, including food that was specially made for them in space conditions.

This research paper presents a comprehensive study on the effects of microgravity exposure during commercial resupply missions using SpaceX's Dragon capsule, with specific attention paid to physiological changes in mice as biomarkers for potential human impact. The experiment involved launching two groups of C57BL/6 male mice (n=20) on August 14, 2017, which were then housed aboard the International Space Station (ISS) within NASA's Rodent Habitats (RH). The methodology employed in this study was meticulous. The flight and control conditions for both groups of mice-Flight Loaded Test (FLT) and Ground Control (GC)-were carefully designed to ensure comparability, with the GC group serving as a baseline reference under Earth-like environmental parameters such as temperature (26-28 °C), light/dark cycle, and diet. The FLT mice were subjected to microgravity for 35 days before returning to Earth via SpaceX's Dragon capsule.