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Fischer Rat Thyroid Low Serum 5% (FRTL5)
06.26.08

Overview | Description | Applications | Operations | Results | Publications | Images

Experiment/Payload Overview

Brief Summary

Fischer Rat Thyroid Low Serum 5% (FRTL5) is aimed at assessing the effects of microgravity and radiation on rat thyroid cells. This experiment should provide further indications that may help in understanding why the sensitivity of the cells to radiation damage is related to their cell cycle and to the kinetics of the radiation. Furthermore it will help improve our knowledge of the effect of the space environment on the human body, especially on long-duration missions.

Principal Investigator

  • Francesco Curcio, University of Udine, Udine, Italy

    • Co-Investigator(s)/Collaborator(s)

  • Saverio Ambesi, University of Udine, Udine, Italy

    • Payload Developer

    Udine University, Udine, Italy

    Sponsoring Agency

    Italian Space Agency (ASI)

    Expeditions Assigned

    |10|16|

    Previous ISS Missions

    No Information Available

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    Experiment/Payload Description

    Research Summary

    • Fischer Rat Thyroid Low Serum 5% (FRTL5) will validate finding about the sensitivity of cells in proliferative state to the space environment compared to those in physiological stand-by. This finding could have a major impact on space biology and physiology studies.

    Description

    This experiment is aimed at assessing the effects of the Space environment (microgravity and radiation) on normal in vitro cultures of rat thyroid cells. This unique in vitro test system allows for the use of cells in a quiescent state (non proliferating), which can be kept almost indefinitely without culture medium exchanges or any manipulation.

    The cell type chosen are the Fischer Rat Thyroid Low Serum 5% (FRTL5) rat thyroid cell strain, hence the name of the experiment. One of the reasons for choosing these specific thyroid cells is the relevance they have to human physiology and medicine. Thyroid tissue is an ideal target for Space radiation research. The thyroid is a major endocrine gland, central in hormonal regulation in man.

    Thyroid tissue has been reported to be strongly resistant to the acute effects of radiation. On the other hand, follow-up studies on human subjects which had been variably but heavily irradiated in Hiroshima, Nagasaki, the Marshall Islands and more recently in Chernobyl, clearly demonstrated a significant long-term sensitivity of thyroid tissue to radiation in terms of development of tumors.

    The FRTL5 cells will be used as a biological system to measure radiation and microgravity effects. This experiment should provide further indications that may help in understanding why the sensitivity of the cells to radiation damage is related to their cell cycle and to the kinetics of the radiation. Furthermore it will help to improve our knowledge of the effect of the space environment on the human body, especially with longer-term missions planned in the future (e.g. Mars).

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    Applications

    Space Applications

    No Information Available

    Earth Applications

    No Information Available

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    Operations

    Operational Requirements

    No Information Available

    Operational Protocols

    The FRTL5 cells will be placed in culture flasks. Each one is made of optically clear polystyrene with a 75 cm2 available growth area, which has the right surface structure that is specially treated for optimal attachment and growth of cells. The flasks will contain FRTL5 cells within a culture that contains a thyroid stimulating hormone. This is a hormone normally secreted by the pituitary gland, which stimulates the thyroid cells to produce thyroxine. The sealed flasks will be accommodated in a plastic bag and all the flasks will be placed in a closed plastic container. The experiment set up makes it possible to preserve the cells for a long time being stimulated by thyroid stimulating hormone. This can be done without any exchange of the culture medium in which the cells are placed and without any manipulation. The cells will be tested on return to Earth for DNA modifications due to radiation and magnetic fields, and the effect of weightlessness on cell behavior. In evaluating the response of cells to the thyroid-stimulating hormone, cells will be analyzed for indications of mutation and changes in complex cell behavior such as programmed cell death, and duplication efficiency. For comparative purposes, these samples will be analyzed against samples from a duplicate experiment, which takes place at the same time with the same procedures on Earth.

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    Results/More Information

    No Information Available

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    Related Web Sites

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    Publications

    Results Publications

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      Related Publications

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        Images

        imageFRTL5 equipment. Image courtesy of S. Ambesi.
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        Information Provided and Updated by the ISS Program Scientist's Office
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