Effects of parabolic flight and spaceflight on the endocannabinoid system in humans
-
Claudia Strewe
Abstract
The endocannabinoid system (ECS) plays an important role in the regulation of physiological functions, from stress and memory regulation to vegetative control and immunity. The ECS is considered a central and peripheral stress response system to emotional or physical challenges and acts through endocannabinoids (ECs), which bind to their receptors inducing subsequent effecting mechanisms. In our studies, the ECS responses have been assessed through blood concentrations of the ECs anandamide and 2-arachidonoylglycerol. In parallel, saliva cortisol was determined and the degree of perceived stress was quantified by questionnaires. This report summarizes the reactivity of the ECS in humans subjected to brief periods of kinetic stress and weightlessness during parabolic flights and to prolonged stress exposure during life onboard the International Space Station (ISS). Both conditions resulted in a significant increase in circulating ECs. Under the acute stress during parabolic flights, individuals who showed no evidence of motion sickness were in low-stress conditions and had a significant increase of plasma ECs. In contrast, highly stressed individuals with severe motion sickness had an absent EC response and a massive increase in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity. Likewise, chronic but well-tolerated exposure to weightlessness and emotional and environmental stressors on the ISS for 6 months resulted in a sustained increase in EC blood concentrations, which returned to baseline values after the cosmonauts’ return. These preliminary results suggest that complex environmental stressors result in an increase of circulating ECs and that enhanced EC signaling is probably required for adaptation and tolerance under stressful conditions.
©2012 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead
- Masthead
- Guest Editorial
- Special Issue: The emotional brain and its relation to psychopathology
- Emotional modulation of the synapse
- Interplay of amygdala and insular cortex during and after associative taste aversion memory formation
- PKMζ inhibition prevents the metaplastic change induced by conditioned taste aversion on insular cortex long-term potentiation in vivo
- Taste and odor recognition memory: the emotional flavor of life
- Intense emotional experiences and enhanced training prevent memory loss induced by post-training amnesic treatments administered to the striatum, amygdala, hippocampus or substantia nigra
- Prefrontal/accumbal catecholamine system processes emotionally driven attribution of motivational salience
- Spatial memory, plasticity and nucleus accumbens
- Serotonin and emotion, learning and memory
- Contribution of serotonin type 3 receptors in the successful extinction of cued or contextual fear conditioned responses: interactions with GABAergic signaling
- Bombesin receptor regulation of emotional memory
- Estrogen, cognitive functions and emotion: an overview on humans, non-human primates and rodents in reproductive years
- Molecular brake pad hypothesis: pulling off the brakes for emotional memory
- Emotional modulation of multiple memory systems: implications for the neurobiology of post-traumatic stress disorder
- Modeling specific phobias and posttraumatic stress disorder in rodents: the challenge to convey both cognitive and emotional features
- Learning to cope with stress: psychobiological mechanisms of stress resilience
- Effects of parabolic flight and spaceflight on the endocannabinoid system in humans
- Glucocorticoid-endocannabinoid interaction in cardiac surgical patients: relationship to early cognitive dysfunction and late depression
- Differences between the aging process and the chronic cerebrovascular impairment of memory functioning: the emotional and cognitive interaction
- A role for the superior colliculus in the modulation of threat responsiveness in primates: toward the ontogenesis of the social brain
- Cannabinoid modulation of mother-infant interaction: is it just about milk?
- Maternal exposure to low levels of corticosterone during lactation increases social play behavior in rat adolescent offspring
- Compulsive drug use and its neural substrates
- The role of the basal ganglia in motivated behavior
- The role of setting for ketamine abuse: clinical and preclinical evidence
Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead
- Masthead
- Guest Editorial
- Special Issue: The emotional brain and its relation to psychopathology
- Emotional modulation of the synapse
- Interplay of amygdala and insular cortex during and after associative taste aversion memory formation
- PKMζ inhibition prevents the metaplastic change induced by conditioned taste aversion on insular cortex long-term potentiation in vivo
- Taste and odor recognition memory: the emotional flavor of life
- Intense emotional experiences and enhanced training prevent memory loss induced by post-training amnesic treatments administered to the striatum, amygdala, hippocampus or substantia nigra
- Prefrontal/accumbal catecholamine system processes emotionally driven attribution of motivational salience
- Spatial memory, plasticity and nucleus accumbens
- Serotonin and emotion, learning and memory
- Contribution of serotonin type 3 receptors in the successful extinction of cued or contextual fear conditioned responses: interactions with GABAergic signaling
- Bombesin receptor regulation of emotional memory
- Estrogen, cognitive functions and emotion: an overview on humans, non-human primates and rodents in reproductive years
- Molecular brake pad hypothesis: pulling off the brakes for emotional memory
- Emotional modulation of multiple memory systems: implications for the neurobiology of post-traumatic stress disorder
- Modeling specific phobias and posttraumatic stress disorder in rodents: the challenge to convey both cognitive and emotional features
- Learning to cope with stress: psychobiological mechanisms of stress resilience
- Effects of parabolic flight and spaceflight on the endocannabinoid system in humans
- Glucocorticoid-endocannabinoid interaction in cardiac surgical patients: relationship to early cognitive dysfunction and late depression
- Differences between the aging process and the chronic cerebrovascular impairment of memory functioning: the emotional and cognitive interaction
- A role for the superior colliculus in the modulation of threat responsiveness in primates: toward the ontogenesis of the social brain
- Cannabinoid modulation of mother-infant interaction: is it just about milk?
- Maternal exposure to low levels of corticosterone during lactation increases social play behavior in rat adolescent offspring
- Compulsive drug use and its neural substrates
- The role of the basal ganglia in motivated behavior
- The role of setting for ketamine abuse: clinical and preclinical evidence
