Abstract
Humans and animals adapt to space flight conditions. However, the adaptive changes of fully formed organisms differ radically from the responses of vertebrate embryos, foetuses, and larvae to space flight. Development is associated with active cell proliferation and the formation of organs and systems. The instability of these processes is well known. Over 20 years has passed since the last systematic experiments on vertebrate reproduction and development in space flight. At the same time, programs are being prepared for the exploration of Mars and the Moon, which justifies further investigations into space flight’s impact on vertebrate development. This review focuses on various aspects of reproduction and early development of vertebrates in space flights. The results of various experiments on fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals are described. The experiments in which our team took part and ontogeny of the vertebrate nervous and special sensory systems are considered in more detail. Possible causes of morphological changes are also discussed. Research on evolutionarily and taxonomically different models can advance the understanding of reproduction in microgravity. Reptiles, in particular, geckos, due to their special features, can be a promising object of space developmental biology.
Highlights
The possibility of reproduction in space is of fundamental importance for space exploration given that people may live on space stations for several years or even generations.For example, a flight to Mars can last for up to 30 months
On the International Space Station, all objects are in a state of microgravity because it moves around the Earth in a ballistic orbit. the inhomogeneity of Earth’s gravitational field and other phenomena create quasi-static accelerations that reach values of 10−6 g
This review focuses on the effects of space flight in low Earth orbit on vertebrate reproduction and early development
Summary
The possibility of reproduction in space is of fundamental importance for space exploration given that people may live on space stations for several years or even generations. Gravity is only one of the factors that influence the formation of complex organisms Factors such as the Earth’s geomagnetic field, different light cycles during the day and year, and the planet’s background radiation must be taken into account [2]. This review focuses on the effects of space flight in low Earth orbit on vertebrate reproduction and early development. Portions of these data have been published elsewhere, e.g., [3,4,5,6,7,8,9]; some new data are included here. There are only preliminary results on how the space environment affects the critical phases of reproduction and development: fertilisation, embryogenesis, pregnancy, birth, postnatal maturation and parental care
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