Transcriptional analysis of spleen from mice flown on the RR-6 mission

The objective of the Rodent Research-6 (RR-6) study was to evaluate muscle atrophy in mice during spaceflight and to test the efficacy of a novel therapeutic to mitigate muscle wasting. The experiment involved an implantable subcutaneous nanochannel delivery system (nDS; between scapula), which delivered the drug formoterol (FMT; a selective Beta-2 adrenoceptor agonist), over the course of time. To this end, a cohort of forty 32-weeks-old female C57BL/6NTac mice were either sham operated or implanted with vehicle or treatment-filled nDS, launched in two Transporters (20 mice per Transporter) on SpaceX-13 on December 15, 2017. They were transferred to Rodent Habitats onboard the International Space Station (ISS), and maintained in microgravity for 29 days (N of 20, Live Animal Return [LAR]), or >50 days (N of 20, ISS Terminal). After 29 days, the 20 LAR animals were returned live to back to Earth on January 13, 2018,. After splashdown, the animals were ambulatory on-ground for ~4 days, until all subjects were processed during one day of dissections. There were two Baseline groups of animals sacrificed (LAR Baseline & FLT Baseline; N of 20; 40 animals; ~36 weeks old) at Kennedy Space Center (KSC; 12/9/17). A Ground Control group mimicked the Flight LAR group, which was housed at KSC, then shipped alive, to Novartis' Facilities, where both the LAR and LAR Ground Control groups were processed (~41 weeks old; 1/16/18). All were anesthetized with isoflurane, blood samples were obtained by closed-chest cardiac puncture, and the animals were euthanized by exsanguination and thoracotomy. The 20 ISS Terminal mice were anesthetized via intraperitoneal injection of ketamine/xylazine/acepromazine over the course of a four days of dissections (2/6/18 until 2/9/18; 53-56 days after launch; 44 weeks old at time of on-orbit dissections). Blood samples and euthanasia were conducted the same as LAR and Baseline. Following blood draw and hind limb dissection, the ISS-terminal animal carcasses were wrapped in aluminum foil, placed in a ziploc bag and placed in storage at -80C or colder until return. The ISS-terminal Ground Controls (at KSC) followed the same euthanasia timeline, methods, and preservation. The final processing of frozen ISS-terminal, frozen ISS-terminal Ground Controls and frozen 0-day FLT baseline animals were completed at Houston Methodist Research Institute, in Houston, TX (5/21/18 until 5/24/18). This study features data from only sham treated animals (no drug treated animals) from the following groups Flight: LAR (N of 8), ISS Terminal (N of 7); Ground Controls: LAR (N of 9), ISS Terminal (N of 7); Baseline: LAR (N of 10), ISS Terminal (N of 3). Total RNA was extracted and sequenced at a target depth of 60 M clusters per sample (ribodepleted, paired end 150).

                                            [
  "026:00"
]
                                        

                                            {
  "fn": "Open Science Data Repository Help Desk",
  "@type": "vcard:Contact",
  "hasEmail": "mailto:arc-dl-osdr-help@mail.nasa.gov"
}
                                        

                                            [
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "Data Information (Unknown Format)",
    "format": "BIN",
    "mediaType": "application/octet-stream",
    "downloadURL": "https://lsda.jsc.nasa.gov/Experiment/exper/13965"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "Data Information (Unknown Format)",
    "format": "BIN",
    "mediaType": "application/octet-stream",
    "downloadURL": "https://osdr.nasa.gov/bio/repo/data/missions/SpaceX-13"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "Download (Data)",
    "format": "BIN",
    "mediaType": "application/octet-stream",
    "downloadURL": "https://osdr.nasa.gov/bio/repo/data/studies/OSD-246"
  }
]
                                        

                                            [
  "na"
]
                                        

                                            [
  "026:000"
]
                                        

                                            {
  "name": "Open Science Data Repository",
  "@type": "org:Organization"
}
                                        

                                            [
  "Biological and Physical Sciences"
]