Experiment

Genes other than bone-related genes also show rapid enhancement of expression under microgravity --Results of eight consecutive days of live imaging Medaka fish in Kibo

Joint research by the Tokyo Institute of Technology and JAXA that studied the mechanisms of how bone mass decreases in microgravity using Medaka fish (Oryzias latipes) was conducted onboard the Japanese Experiment Module ("Kibo") of the International Space Station (ISS). This research has been conducted twice: the first time in 2012 (long-term culture) and the second time in 2014 (short-term culture).

The results obtained this time were achieved from the short-term culture conducted in February 2014 when Astronaut Koichi Wakata onboard the ISS successfully video-taped live Medaka fish for eight consecutive days using a fluorescence microscope for the first time ever.

The research outcomes reveal the following:

• Rapid enhancement of the fluorescent signals of osteoblast (cells that synthesize bone) and osteoclast (cells that break bone tissue) was observed.
• Five genes related to gravity response were identified.

This research achievement was published as an online journal in Scientific Reports of the Nature Publishing Group of the United Kingdom, on December 22, 2016, at 10:00 a.m. (British time).

To read the detailed research results, refer to the webpage below.

Journal: Scientific Reports

Authers: Masahiro Chatani,^1,✝ Hiroya Morimoto,¹ Kazuhiro Takeyama,¹ Akiko Mantoku,¹ Naoki Tanigawa,² Koji Kubota,² Hiromi Suzuki,³ Satoko Uchida,³ Fumiaki Tanigaki,⁴ Masaki Shirakawa,⁴ Oleg Gusev,^5,‡ Vladimir Sychev,⁶ Yoshiro Takano,⁷ Takehiko Itoh,¹ and Akira Kudo^1
1 Graduate School of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama 226-8501, Japan
² Chiyoda Corporation, Yokohama 220-8765, Japan
³ Department of Science and Applications, Japan Space Forum, Tokyo 101-0062, Japan
⁴ Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Tsukuba 305-8505, Japan
⁵ Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology, Kazan Federal University, Kazan 420008, Russia
⁶ SSC RF-Institute of Biomedical Problems RAS, Moscow, Russia
⁷ Section of Biostructural Science, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo 113-8549, Japan
^✝Current address: Department of Pharmacology, School of Dentistry, Showa University, Tokyo 142-8555, Japan
^‡Current address: RIKEN Innovation Center, RIKEN, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan

*All times are Japan Standard Time (JST)