The First Female Dry Immersion (NAIAD-2020): Design and Specifics of a 3-Day Study

Tomilovskaya, Elena; Amirova, Liubov; Nosikova, Inna; Rukavishnikov, Ilya; Chernogorov, Roman; Лебедева, С. А.; Saveko, Alina; Ermakov, Ivan; Пономарев, И. И.; Zelenskaya, Inna; Shigueva, Tatiana; Shishkin, Nikita; Kitov, Vladimir; Riabova, Alexandra; Brykov, Vitaly; Sheli, Nelly Abu; Vassilieva, Galina; Орлов, О. И.

doi:10.3389/fphys.2021.661959

Cited by 13 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 40 publications

(53 reference statements)

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“…The study was conducted at the DI facility of the Institute of Biomedical Problems, Russian Academy of Science (Tomilovskaya et al, 2019(Tomilovskaya et al, , 2021. For 3 days, participants lay in the immersion bath without any physical activities and with moderate movement restriction; among other factors, lower limb activation was limited.…”

Section: Experimental Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

NAIAD-2020: Characteristics of Motor Evoked Potentials After 3-Day Exposure to Dry Immersion in Women

Nosikova

Riabova

Amirova

et al. 2021

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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As female astronauts participate in space flight more and more frequently, there is a demand for research on how the female body adapts to the microgravity environment. In particular, there is very little research on how the neuromuscular system reacts to gravitational unloading in women. We aimed to estimate changes in motor evoked potentials (MEPs) in the lower leg muscles in women after 3-day exposure to Dry Immersion (DI), which is one of the most widely used ground models of microgravity. Six healthy female volunteers (mean age 30.17 ± 5.5 years) with a natural menstrual cycle participated in this experiment. MEPs were recorded from the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles twice before DI, on the day of DI completion, and 3 days after DI, during the recovery period. To evoke motor responses, transcranial and trans-spinal magnetic stimulation was applied. We showed that changes in MEP characteristics after DI exposure were different depending on the stimulation site, but were similar for both muscles. For trans-spinal stimulation, MEP thresholds decreased compared to baseline values, and amplitudes, on the contrary, increased, resembling the phenomenon of hypogravitational hyperreflexia. This finding is in line with data observed in other experiments on both male and female participants. MEPs to transcranial stimulation had an opposing dynamic, which may have resulted from the small group size and large inter-subject variability, or from hormonal fluctuations during the menstrual cycle. Central motor conduction time remained unchanged, suggesting that pyramidal tract conductibility was not affected by DI exposure. More research is needed to explore the underlying mechanisms.

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Section: Experimental Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

NAIAD-2020: Characteristics of Motor Evoked Potentials After 3-Day Exposure to Dry Immersion in Women

Nosikova

Riabova

Amirova

et al. 2021

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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“…However, similar to the bed-rest model, studies during “dry” immersion are most often aimed at the musculoskeletal, nervous, and cardiovascular systems [ 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ]. Moreover, the first “dry” immersion study with women as the subjects that lasted 3 days was conducted in 2020 [ 19 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The State of the Organs of the Female Reproductive System after a 5-Day “Dry” Immersion

Gorbacheva

Toniyan

Biriukova³

et al. 2023

IJMS

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The impact of weightlessness on the female reproductive system remains poorly understood, although deep space exploration is impossible without the development of effective measures to protect women’s health. The purpose of this work was to study the effect of a 5-day “dry” immersion on the state of the reproductive system of female subjects. On the fourth day of the menstrual cycle after immersion, we observed an increase in inhibin B of 35% (p < 0.05) and a decrease in luteinizing hormone of 12% (p < 0.05) and progesterone of 52% (p < 0.05) compared with the same day before immersion. The size of the uterus and the thickness of the endometrium did not change. On the ninth day of the menstrual cycle after immersion, the average diameters of the antral follicles and the dominant follicle were, respectively, 14% and 22% (p < 0.05) higher than before. The duration of the menstrual cycle did not change. The obtained results may indicate that the stay in the 5-day “dry” immersion, on the one hand, can stimulate the growth of the dominant follicle, but, on the other hand, can cause functional insufficiency of the corpus lutea.

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“…This is indicated by the results of the speech acoustic analysis and self-assessment questionnaires, in which the subjects noted an increase in anxiety and depression, and a decrease in activity. This was compared with the data obtained in the same experiment regarding the attitude of the subjects to their physical discomfort (such as general discomfort, back pain and abdominal pain) also peaking at the 1st day and decreasing by the 2nd day evening (Tomilovskaya et al, 2021). Previously, in studies with participation of astronauts (58% of whom were female) it was shown that approximately half of all astronauts report back pain during the early stages of spaceflight: back pain was most often reported on the first and 2nd days of space flight (Kerstman et al, 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…From September 7 to November 30, 2020, the IBMP RAS conducted the world's first "dry" immersion experiment with the participation of female volunteers («NAIAD-2020») (Tomilovskaya et al, 2021).…”

Section: Design Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of the Psychophysiological State of Female Operators Under Simulated Microgravity

2022

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The article describes methods of non-verbal speech characteristics analysis used to determine psychophysiological state of female subjects under simulated microgravity conditions (“dry” immersion, DI), as well as the results of the study. A number of indicators of the acute period of adaptation to microgravity conditions was described. The acute adaptation period in female subjects began earlier (evening of the 1st day of DI) and ended faster than in male ones in previous studies (2nd day of DI). This was indicated by a decrease in the level of state anxiety (STAI, p < 0,05) and depression-dejection [Profile of Mood States (POMS), p < 0,05], as well as a decrease in pitch (p < 0,05) and voice intensity (p < 0,05). In addition, women, apparently, used the “freeze” coping strategy – the proportion of neutral facial expressions on the most intense days of the experiment was at maximum. The subjects in this experiment assessed their feelings and emotions better, giving more accurate answers in self-assessment questionnaires, but at the same time tried to look and sound as calm and confident as possible, controlling their expressions. Same trends in the subjects’ cognitive performance were identified as in similar experimental conditions earlier: the subjects’ psychophysiological excitement corresponded to better performance in sensorimotor tasks. The difference was in the speed of mathematical computation: women in the present study performed the computation faster on the same days when they made fewer pauses in speech, while in men in previous experiments this relationship was inverse.

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The First Female Dry Immersion (NAIAD-2020): Design and Specifics of a 3-Day Study

Cited by 13 publications

References 40 publications

NAIAD-2020: Characteristics of Motor Evoked Potentials After 3-Day Exposure to Dry Immersion in Women

NAIAD-2020: Characteristics of Motor Evoked Potentials After 3-Day Exposure to Dry Immersion in Women

The State of the Organs of the Female Reproductive System after a 5-Day “Dry” Immersion

Assessment of the Psychophysiological State of Female Operators Under Simulated Microgravity

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