Region-specific vascular remodeling and its prevention by artificial gravity in weightless environment

Evidence from recent ground and spaceflight studies with animals and humans supports the notion that microgravity-induced vascular remodeling contributes to postflight orthostatic intolerance. In the vascular beds of lower body, such as in splanchnic and lower limb circulation, resistance vessels would undergo hypotrophy and decrement in myogenic tone and vasoreactivity. Thus, despite the concurrent sympathetic activation, the increase in peripheral vascular resistance would still be compromised while astronauts were re-exposed to Earth's 1-G gravity, since similar to 75 % of the total vascular conductance lies below the heart. On the contrary, cerebral arteries would undergo hypertrophy and vasoreactivity enhancement due to adaptation to cerebral hypertension, which protects the down-stream microcirculation in the brain during spaceflight. However, the enhanced vasoreactivity of cerebral vessels might also aggravate postflight orthostatic intolerance, particularly after long-duration spaceflight. Animal studies have indicated that the underlying mechanisms may involve ion-channel remodeling in vascular smooth muscle cells and vascular NO-NOS and local renin-angiotensin system (L-RAS). Furthermore, vascular remodeling and associated ion-channel and L-RAS changes can be prevented by a countermeasure of daily short-duration restoring to normal standing posture. These findings substantiate in general the hypothesis that redistribution of transmural pressure along the arterial vasculature due to the removal of gravity might be the primary factor that initiates vascular remodeling in microgravity, and daily short-duration restoring its normal distribution by intermittent artificial gravity (IAG) can effectively prevent the vascular adaptation and hence postflight cardiovascular deconditioning. IAG might also be beneficial in maintaining vascular health during future long-duration space flight.