Visual impairments reported by about some astronauts who stayed for prolonged periods aboard the International Space Station turns out to be related to how the body regulates cerebrospinal fluid under changing pressure. In some cases, this caused permanent changes to the vision of the astronauts.
A visual problem affecting astronauts who serve on lengthy missions in space is related to volume changes in the clear fluid that is found around the brain and spinal cord, according to new research being presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
Over the last decade, flight surgeons and scientists at NASA began seeing a pattern of visual impairment in astronauts who flew long-duration space missions. The astronauts had blurry vision, and further testing revealed, among several other structural changes, flattening at the back of their eyeballs and inflammation of the head of their optic nerves. The syndrome, known as visual impairment intracranial pressure (VIIP), was reported in nearly two-thirds of astronauts after long-duration missions aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
“People initially didn’t know what to make of it, and by 2010 there was growing concern as it became apparent that some of the astronauts had severe structural changes that were not fully reversible upon return to earth,” said study lead author Noam Alperin, Ph.D., professor of radiology and biomedical engineering at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in Miami, Fla.
Scientists previously believed that the primary source of the problem was a shift of vascular fluid toward the upper body that takes place when astronauts spend time in the microgravity of space. But researchers led by Dr. Alperin recently investigated another possible source for the problem: cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), the clear fluid that helps cushion the brain and spinal cord while circulating nutrients and removing waste materials. The CSF system is designed to accommodate significant changes in hydrostatic pressures, such as when a person rises from a lying to sitting or standing position. However, the microgravity of space presents new challenges.
“On earth, the CSF system is built to accommodate these pressure changes, but in space the system is confused by the lack of the posture-related pressure changes,” Dr. Alperin said.
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Identifying the origin of the space-induced ocular changes is necessary, Dr. Alperin said, for the development of countermeasures to protect the crew from the ill effects of long-duration exposure to microgravity.
“If the ocular structural deformations are not identified early, astronauts could suffer irreversible damage,” he noted. “As the eye globe becomes more flattened, the astronauts become hyperopic, or far-sighted.”