More than a Feeling: Dermatological Changes Impacted by Spaceflight

Abstract

Abstract Spaceflight poses a unique set of challenges to humans and the hostile spaceflight environment can induce a wide range of increased health risks, including dermatological issues. The biology driving the frequency of skin issues in astronauts is currently not well understood. To address this issue, we used a systems biology approach utilizing NASA’s Open Science Data Repository (OSDR) on spaceflown murine transcriptomic datasets focused on the skin, biomedical profiles from fifty NASA astronauts, and confirmation via transcriptomic data from JAXA astronauts, the NASA Twins Study, and the first civilian commercial mission, Inspiration4. Key biological changes related to skin health, DNA damage & repair, and mitochondrial dysregulation were determined to be involved with skin health risks during spaceflight. Additionally, a machine learning model was utilized to determine key genes driving spaceflight response in the skin. These results can be used for determining potential countermeasures to mitigate spaceflight damage to the skin.