Here’s how space travel can change astronauts brains in bizarre ways

STAYING in space for long periods of time can cause major side effects to the human brain, a new study finds.

The study, titled Brain Connectometry Changes in Space Travelers After Long-Duration Spaceflight, was published on Friday in the journal Frontiers in Neural Circuits.

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The research, which was led by Dr. Andrei Doroshin, looked at structural changes in the brains of astronauts who spent almost six months on the International Space Station (ISS).

Using diffusion MRI (dMRI) scans, and a new technique called “fiber tractography,” the study was able to look at the brains of 12 male astronauts from the European Space Agency and Russia’s Roscosmos.

Data was collected on the astronauts before they departed and immediately after they returned.

Eight of the participants were also looked at seven months after their return to Earth.

The findings yielded some interesting results: “We found significant microstructural changes in several large white matter tracts, such as the corpus callosum, arcuate fasciculus, corticospinal, corticostriatal, and cerebellar tracts,” the study noted.

The data showed specifically that the corpus callosum – a large part of the brain made of more than 200 million nerve fibers that connect the two brain hemispheres – expands because of spaceflight.

The corpus callosum, identified as a motor area, is basically a “brain center where commands for movements are initiated,” Doroshin told Forbes. 

“In weightlessness, an astronaut needs to adapt his or her movement strategies drastically, compared to Earth. Our study shows that their brain is rewired, so to speak,” Doroshin added.

The team found that these structural changes after spaceflight “from a functional perspective have roles in sensorimotor, language and visual function.”

While the findings clearly show some neurological changes, the study noted that the “neuropsychological data to analyze the functional correlates of any observed changes is not available.”

Furthermore, the study’s authors said it’s important moving forward to complete a neuropsychological profile of cosmonauts.

The team stated via the study that they hope their findings “directs future research to investigate brain functional and behavioral changes associated with white matter pathways.”

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