Living in Space
Integral Understanding of life-regulation mechanism from "SPACE"

Mechanism of homeostatic robustness by exercise to reduce health risk in space life – Publicly Invited Research 2016－2017

1. A01 Akiyama
2. A01 Ochi
3. A01 Chatani
4. A01 Seiki
5. A01 Nikawa
6. A01 Kawakami
7. A01 Tomita
8. A01 Honda

1. A02 Shinohara
2. A02 Maekawa
3. A02 Ohgami
4. A02 Nishimura
5. A02 Kawano
6. A02 Iwase
7. A02 Furuichi
8. A02 Myung
9. A02 Kitamura

1. A03 Nakamura
2. A03 Harada
3. A03 Ide
4. A03 Shirai
5. A03 Kakinuma

1. B01 Lazarus
2. B01 Miwa
3. B01 Kunieda
4. B01 Shimada
5. B01 Kitaya
6. B01 Sawano

Research Subject	Mechanism of homeostatic robustness by exercise to reduce health risk in space life
Research Group Leader	Takuro Numaga-Tomita Assistant professor, Okazaki Institute for Integrative Biology (National Institute for Physiological Sciences), National institutes of Natural Sciences
Research Collaborator(s)	Motohiro Nishida Professor, Okazaki Institute for Integrative Biology (National Institute for Physiological Sciences), National Institutes of Natural Sciences Akiyuki Nishimura Project assistant professor, Okazaki Institute for Integrative Biology (National Institute for Physiological Sciences), National Institutes of Natural Sciences

One of the difficulties for survival in space is the loss of stress on muscular system organs, which leads to muscle atrophy. Even on Earth, the condition of being bedridden is known to cause muscle atrophy and immunodeficiency. To reveal the importance of exercise and how to substitute for poor exercise under difficult conditions, we will study how muscular organs sense mechanical signals from physical activities and contribute to homeostasis, and aim to develop novel interventions to mimic kinesitherapy.
We consider the mechanical signals on skeletal muscle during muscle contraction and dilation to be the most important factor in exercise. Therefore, the mechanism of sensing and adapting to those mechanical signals will be studied from a cellular level to a whole-body level. And the common mechanism of adaptation to mechanical signals among all muscular organs will be revealed. Finally, the importance of muscular organs in homeostasis will be analyzed.