著者

高沖 宗夫

出版者

日本宇宙生物科学会

雑誌

Biological Sciences in Space (ISSN:09149201)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.21, no.3, pp.76-83, 2007 (Released:2007-12-26)

参考文献数

49

被引用文献数

2

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Nearly 50 multicelluar animal species have ever been flown on the near earth orbit or further. Animals used in space experiments range from Primates to Cnidaria. Widely used laboratory animals on the ground, such as rats and fruit flies, are frequently flown species. Mice, however, seem less popular in space experiments, probably because of their relatively poor resistance to the stressful space environment. To keep rodents onboard the space craft in a health state requires tremendous efforts. Moreover, the use of rodents onboard the International Space Station (ISS) has become extremely difficult, due to the cancellation of the Centrifuge facility. Rearing fish in space, on the other hand, is easier than to keep rodents, since their waste excretions are borne by the water flow and can be effectively removed by filtering. Fish are suitable model for the studies on development, radiation effects and vestibular functions. Among fish, Medaka (Oryzias latipes) will be the most useful species for space experiments, with the inventory of inbred and mutant strains, their genome sequence data, and the established gene knockout technologies. Medaka together with established small laboratory animals, such as C. elegans, are most promising species for the experiments onboard the ISS. Other unique groups of animals in space experiment are those inhabit in the arid area. These animals, such as Mongolian Gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus), generally require few drinking water and produce little amount of waste. This enables flight hardware being simpler. Although the lack of their genome sequence data is a big drawback, they are useful for space experiments, especially for those utilizing recoverable capsule satellites.

著者

高沖 宗夫

出版者

日本宇宙生物科学会

雑誌

Biological Sciences in Space (ISSN:09149201)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.22, no.4, pp.193-199, 2008 (Released:2010-08-06)

参考文献数

21

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医学生物学の分野において環境因子としての重力は余り重視されていない。重力が一定不変であるためその役割が気づかれ難い事の他に、その作用が他の因子とは異なるため実験的に扱い難い点が大きな障害になっていると考えられる。重力と生物の関わりを研究するためには、主体である生物が重力に関係する現象をどのように捉え処理しているかという観点から、重力を記号(sign)として扱う生物記号論(biosemiotics)を適用することの必要性を論じる。