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Experiment K-7-29: Connective Tissue StudiesMyofiber injury-repair was studied in the rat gastrocnemius following a crush injury to the lower leg prior to flight in order to understand if the regenerative responses of muscles are altered by the lack of gravitational forces during Cosmos 2044 flight. After 14 days of flight, the gastrocnemius muscle was removed from the 5 injured flight rodents and various Earth-based treatment groups for comparison. The Earth-based animals consisted of three groups of five rats with injured muscles from a simulated, tail-suspended, and vivarium as well as an uninjured basal group. The gastrocnemius muscle from each was evaluated by histochemical and immunohistochemical techniques to document myofiber, vascular, and connective tissue alterations following injury. In general the repair process was somewhat similar in all injured muscle samples with regard to extracellular matrix organization and myofiber regeneration. Small and large myofibers were present with a newly organized extracellular matrix indicative of myogenesis and muscle regeneration. In the tail-suspended animals, a more complete repair was observed with no enlarged area of non-muscle cells or matrix material visible. In contrast, the muscle samples from the flight animals were less well differentiated with more macrophages and blood vessels in the repair region but small myofibers and proteoglycans, nevertheless, were in their usual configuration. Thus, myofiber repair did vary in muscles from the different groups, but for the most part, resulted in functional muscle tissue.
Document ID
19960029006
Acquisition Source
Ames Research Center
Document Type
Other
Authors
Stauber, W.
(West Virginia Univ. Morgantown, VA United States)
Fritz, V. K.
(West Virginia Univ. Morgantown, VA United States)
Burkovskaya, T. E.
(Institute of Biomedical Problems Moscow, USSR)
Ilyina-Kakueva, E. I.
(Institute of Biomedical Problems Moscow, USSR)
Date Acquired
August 17, 2013
Publication Date
September 1, 1994
Publication Information
Publication: US Experiments Flown on the Soviet Biosatellite Cosmos 2044
Subject Category
Life Sciences (General)
Accession Number
96N29601
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAG2-590
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
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