GALVESTON, Texas, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- Sixteen laboratory mice, part of a medical experiment, will join the crew of the space shuttle Discovery when it launches Monday, U.S. researchers say.
The experiment is part of a long-running effort by NASA to understand why spaceflight seems to make humans more vulnerable to infection by viruses and bacteria.
"Since the Apollo missions, we have had evidence that astronauts have increased susceptibility to infections during flight and immediately post-flight -- they seem more vulnerable to cold and flu viruses and urinary tract infections, and viruses like Epstein-Barr, which infect most people and then remain dormant, can reactivate under the stress of spaceflight," Dr. Roberto Garofalo, a professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, said.
A collaboration between the school and NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., it will be the final immunology investigation planned for the shuttle program, a university release said Friday.
Within 2 hours of the shuttle's return to Earth, eight of the mice will be infected with respiratory syncytial virus -- a pathogen that infects almost all human children by age 2 and ordinarily causes a relatively harmless cold-like upper respiratory disease.
Another group of mice kept in nearly identical conditions on the ground will also be exposed to the virus, and researchers will conduct genetic and protein studies of the lung and nasal tissues of both sets of mice.
"The space environment incorporates many factors that we know affect the immune system -- microgravity, radiation, even different nutritional standards -- all acting in a relatively short period of time," Garofalo said.
