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. 2019 Jun 29;20(13):3194.
doi: 10.3390/ijms20133194.

The Effects of Spaceflight Factors on the Human Plasma Proteome, Including Both Real Space Missions and Ground-Based Experiments

Alexander G Brzhozovskiy  1   2 , Alexey S Kononikhin  1   2 , Lyudmila Ch Pastushkova  1 , Daria N Kashirina  1 , Maria I Indeykina  3   4 , Igor A Popov  3   5 , Marc-Antoine Custaud  6 , Irina M Larina  7   8 , Evgeny N Nikolaev  9   10
Affiliations

The Effects of Spaceflight Factors on the Human Plasma Proteome, Including Both Real Space Missions and Ground-Based Experiments

Alexander G Brzhozovskiy et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

The aim of the study was to compare proteomic data on the effects of spaceflight factors on the human body, including both real space missions and ground-based experiments. LC-MS/MS-based proteomic analysis of blood plasma samples obtained from 13 cosmonauts before and after long-duration (169-199 days) missions on the International Space Station (ISS) and for five healthy men included in 21-day-long head-down bed rest (HDBR) and dry immersion experiments were performed. The semi-quantitative label-free analysis revealed significantly changed proteins: 19 proteins were significantly different on the first (+1) day after landing with respect to background levels; 44 proteins significantly changed during HDBR and 31 changed in the dry immersion experiment. Comparative analysis revealed nine common proteins (A1BG, A2M, SERPINA1, SERPINA3, SERPING1, SERPINC1, HP, CFB, TF), which changed their levels after landing, as well as in both ground-based experiments. Common processes, such as platelet degranulation, hemostasis, post-translational protein phosphorylation and processes of protein metabolism, indicate common pathogenesis in ground experiments and during spaceflight. Dissimilarity in the lists of significantly changed proteins could be explained by the differences in the dynamics of effective development in the ground-based experiments. Data are available via ProteomeXchange using the identifier PXD013305.

Keywords: astronauts; dry immersion; extreme conditions; ground-based experiments; head-down bed rest; mass-spectrometry; proteomics; spaceflight.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A volcano plot representing the results of the t-tests (p-value > 0.01). The difference for each protein was plotted against the –log10 of the p-value. (A) Proteins are significantly different from the background during head-down bed rest (HDBR). (B) Proteins significantly differing from the background in the dry immersion experiment. (C) Proteins significantly changed at +1 days after landing with respect to their background levels. Colours indicates volcano plot t-tests significance with a permutation-based false discovery rate (FDR) calculation for significantly changed proteins: blue—FDR < 0.05; red—FDR > 0.05.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The heat map analysis represents the hierarchical clustering of samples set before and after the spaceflight. Hierarchical clustering of proteomic composition was performed using logarithmized label-free quantification (LFQ) intensities. The strength of the colors indicates the relative abundance of the protein in different groups.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The label-free quantification (LFQ) intensity box plot for nine proteins that change their level at the 21st day in the ground-based experiments (A) and after space flight (B). The LFQ values are plotted in Log2(x) scale along the vertical axis.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The histogram of gene ontology (GO) term enrichment in ground-based experiments and during spaceflight. (A) The list of the top 10 processes in which significantly changed proteins take part. (B) Comparison of the top 10 processes enriched on +1 days after landing with similar processes in HDBR and Dry immersion. The ordinate represents the enriched GO terms, and the abscissa represents the −log2(FDR).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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