Scientists have created “space mice babies” – and they offer hope for our plans to explore the universe.
In the years to come, many people hope that humans are spending a lot more time away from the Earth, between space tourism and the exploration of other planets such as Mars. But those missions could be limited or even cancelled completely by the dangerous effects of spaceflight on the body, which can include wasting muscles and loss of bone density.
Another fear that has long concerned those hoping for long mission into space is the danger that spaceflight could limit our ability to produce healthy children. It is therefore important to study how spaceflight might impact the germ cells that become egg and sperm, because any damage done to those cells could cause irreversible problems for future generations.
Previous research has found that when those cells undergo spaceflight it can lead to abnormalities. But scientists still don’t know how that might happen.
Now a new study has attempted to solve that problem with the creation of a new kind of animal: space mice babies.
Researchers at Kyoto University took stem cells from mice and froze them so they could be preserved. They were then sent to the International Space Station, where they were kept in a freezer for six months.
When they came back down to Kyoto, the team examined them to see if there were any abnormalities, and could not find any. But to test further, they took those cells and put them into a mouse, where they eventually led to offspring after the mice mated.
They found that the mice themselves appeared healthy and the genes worked as normal. They suggest that frozen germ cells stay fertile for at least six months in space.
“It is important to examine how long we can store germ cells in the ISS to better understand the limits of storage for future human spaceflight,” said first author Mito Kanatsu-Shinohara in a statement.
The research suggests that similar cells could be frozen for future spaceflight. But more work is needed, including watching the mice throughout their lifespan as well as for any changes that might be seen in their offspring.
The work is described in a new paper, ‘Germline transmission of cryopreserved mouse spermatogonial stem cells maintained on the International Space Station’, published in the journal Stem Cell Reports.
