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NASA NTRS2018

Preparation for Pick-and-Eat Food Production on the International Space Station: Flight Definition for the VEG-04 and VEG-05 Missions

Growth of fresh, nutritious, palatable produce for crew consumption during spaceflight may provide health-promoting, bioavailable nutrients and enhance the dietary experience as we move toward longer-duration missions. Tending plants also may serve as a countermeasure for crew psychological stresses associated with long duration spaceflight. However, requirements to support consistent growth of a variety of high quality, nutritious crops under spaceflight environmental conditions is unknown. This study is exploring the potential to grow plants for food production on the International Space Station (ISS) using the Veggie vegetable production system. Ground testing is underway to compare the impacts of several fertilizer and lighting treatments on growth, quality, and nutritional composition of the leafy green crop mizuna, and the dwarf tomato crop Red Robin when subjected to Veggie ISS environmental conditions. Early testing focused on the leafy crop Tokyo Bekana Chinese cabbage, but ground tests indicated that this plant suffered from stress responses when grown under LEDs and the chronically elevated CO2 levels found on the ISS. Mizuna, a related leafy variety that grows well in the presence of high CO2, and has excellent organoleptic characteristics, was selected as an alternate crop. Tomato crops have been grown using two fertilizer formulations and two pollination techniques, and growth tests using different red:blue lighting environments are underway. Chemical analysis is also being conducted and these data, when coupled with the growth results, will be used to down-select to the two best lighting treatments and best fertilizer treatment for future testing of each crop on the ISS. Additionally, seed-source testing has become important, with mizuna seeds from two different vendors growing very differently. A seed source has been selected, and seed-surface-sanitizing methods have been confirmed for mizuna, but these remain under development for tomato. A crop-handling protocol is also being evaluated to support food safety. All harvests reserve a subset of samples for microbial analysis to determine baseline microbial levels and help establish critical control points for food safety. Testing was initially conducted in hardware analogs of the standard Veggie plant pillows. However, a new Veggie watering system, the Passive Orbital Nutrient Delivery System or PONDS, has been designed and is being prepared for future flight experiments. With the selection of this growth system, ground tests have shifted to analog PONDS systems. Crop tests on ISS, designated VEG-04 for mizuna and VEG-05 for tomato, are planned in 2018 to evaluate any additional impacts of spaceflight on the light and fertilizer conditions down-selected from ground tests. A set of Veggie-specific questions has been developed to characterize the psychological impacts of plant growth and plant-care activities during spaceflight. Organoleptic questionnaires have been developed to assess produce attributes in microgravity taste sessions. These tests for plants growing in the Veggie hardware on ISS will help to mitigate the risk of an inadequate food supply for long duration missions by developing methods and determining hardware requirements to integrate fresh vegetables as a dietary supplement. This research was co-funded by the Human Research Program and Space Biology (MTL1075) in the ILSRA 2015 NRA call.

Veggie↗
NASA NTRS2018

Preparation for Pick-and-Eat Food Production on the International Space Station: Flight Definition for the VEG-04 and VEG-05 Missions

Growth of fresh, nutritious, palatable produce for crew consumption during spaceflight may provide health-promoting, bioavailable nutrients and enhance the dietary experience as we move toward longer-duration missions. Tending plants also may serve as a countermeasure for crew psychological stresses associated with long duration spaceflight. However, requirements to support consistent growth of a variety of high quality, nutritious crops under spaceflight environmental conditions is unknown. This study is exploring the potential to grow plants for food production on the International Space Station (ISS) using the Veggie vegetable production system. Ground testing is underway to compare the impacts of several fertilizer and lighting treatments on growth, quality, and nutritional composition of the leafy green crop mizuna, and the dwarf tomato crop "Red Robin" when subjected to Veggie ISS environmental conditions. Early testing focused on the leafy crop "Tokyo Bekana" Chinese cabbage, but ground tests indicated that this plant suffered from stress responses when grown under LEDs and the chronically elevated CO2 levels found on the ISS. Mizuna, a related leafy variety that grows well in the presence of high CO2, and has excellent organoleptic characteristics, was selected as an alternate crop. Tomato crops have been grown using two fertilizer formulations and two pollination techniques, and growth tests using different red:blue lighting environments are underway. Chemical analysis is also being conducted and these data, when coupled with the growth results, will be used to down-select to the two best lighting treatments and best fertilizer treatment for future testing of each crop on the ISS. Additionally, seed-source testing has become important, with mizuna seeds from two different vendors growing very differently. A seed source has been selected, and seed-surface-sanitizing methods have been confirmed for mizuna, but these remain under development for tomato. A crop-handling protocol is also being evaluated to support food safety. All harvests reserve a subset of samples for microbial analysis to determine baseline microbial levels and help establish critical control points for food safety. Testing was initially conducted in hardware analogs of the standard Veggie plant pillows. However, a new Veggie watering system, the Passive Orbital Nutrient Delivery System or PONDS, has been designed and is being prepared for future flight experiments. With the selection of this growth system, ground tests have shifted to analog PONDS systems. Crop tests on ISS, designated VEG-04 for mizuna and VEG-05 for tomato, are planned in 2018 to evaluate any additional impacts of spaceflight on the light and fertilizer conditions down-selected from ground tests. A set of Veggie-specific questions has been developed to characterize the psychological impacts of plant growth and plant-care activities during spaceflight. Organoleptic questionnaires have been developed to assess produce attributes in microgravity taste sessions. These tests for plants growing in the Veggie hardware on ISS will help to mitigate the risk of an inadequate food supply for long duration missions by developing methods and determining hardware requirements to integrate fresh vegetables as a dietary supplement. This research was co-funded by the Human Research Program and Space Biology (MTL#1075) in the ILSRA 2015 NRA call.

LED light↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

One-Carbon Metabolism and SANS 2022 Update

Spaceflight Associated Neuro-ocular Syndrome, or SANS, affects a subset of astronauts (1, 2), and biochemical evidence has documented differences in those astronauts (3). Specifically, they had higher circulating concentrations of metabolites of the one-carbon metabolic pathway (1C), including homocysteine, and these concentrations were higher before flight (3). After ruling out many potential confounding factors in these otherwise healthy individuals (e.g., sex, kidney function, vitamin status, coffee consumption), a study of genetics was warranted. In an initial pilot effort, we documented a genetic predisposition to develop ophthalmic changes after long-duration space flight (4). That is, from a limited study of 5 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), we found that the G allele for the MTRR A66G SNP was associated with a greater risk of choroidal folds and cotton-wool spots after flight, and the C allele for SHMT1 C1420T was protective against optic disc edema (4). These data provide a potential pathway for understanding why some individuals develop SANS, while others do not. The initial pilot study of 5 SNPs yielded striking findings, but the 1C pathway is far more complex. An effort was undertaken to examine more than 500 1C SNPs to see if a broader examination could help illuminate this association. That work is ongoing. The astronaut findings led us to advocate for the inclusion of 1C pathway genetic and biochemistry testing on other SANS-related projects, noting that genetics might help identify responders, non-responders, or outliers. The first such effort yielded evidence of an association of specific forms of the MTRR and SHMT-1 SNPs and vitamin B12 status with end-tidal CO2 after acute carbon dioxide exposure (5). The second such effort led to the identification that individuals exposed to strict head-down tilt and CO2 for 30-d who developed optic disc edema also had risk alleles for the two SNPs described above (6). Additionally, we identified a clinical population with many characteristics either attributed or purported to be involved in the ocular changes seen in affected astronauts: women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). PCOS is a condition of androgen excess and anovulatory menstrual cycles. The shared characteristics and clinical findings between SANS and PCOS generally include higher circulating homocysteine concentrations, increased retinal nerve fiber layer thickness, increased androgen concentrations (or responses), and altered carbohydrate metabolism. To our knowledge, no study has examined whether women with PCOS have asymptomatic ophthalmic anomalies observed in astronauts with SANS. While researchers have evaluated the one-carbon metabolism pathway polymorphisms of PCOS patients, and initial studies show an association with certain one-carbon polymorphisms, none have looked at the set of SNPs identified in our studies that are associated with ophthalmic changes in astronauts. Accordingly, we designed a study to evaluate the association of one-carbon pathway SNPs and ophthalmic findings in patients with PCOS and/or IIH compared to controls. Subjects provided blood samples for vitamin and one carbon biochemistry analyses, an extensive analysis of >500 SNPs associated with one carbon metabolism and had eye examinations and ocular imaging. Data analysis are underway. The data collected to date have shown associations between one carbon pathway biochemistry and genetics and incidence of SANS. The mechanisms for SANS has yet to be identified, although many hypotheses exist. Based on our data, we have developed (8, 9) and expanded (6) a multi-hit hypothesis for how these seemingly disparate findings could be linked. While intriguing, the hypothesis represents the starting point for further research. We aim to clarify the relationship between B-vitamin status and genetics with regard to the risk of SANS. Ultimately, understanding the mechanism(s) behind this will provide a means to predict, prevent, or treat these ophthalmologic pathologies in astronauts, and terrestrial populations.

S M Smith↗