Astronauts’ luggage problems They are more than known. You can’t travel to Mars with a suitcase full of “just in case.” Each extra kilo represents a huge amount of fuel, which in turn represents more load. It is important to choose well what you take and try to extract the most resources at the destination. However, an exception should be made with drugs. Medications are not “just in case.” They are the most necessary part of the luggage. Unfortunately, many medications degrade in space much faster than on Earth.
The expiration. In experiments with drugs on the International Space Station (ISS), it has been seen that half of them expire in a maximum of 3 years. They probably wouldn’t last a complete stay on Marsa planet that is too far away to send supplies regularly. Therefore, the ideal would be to look for ways to obtain drugs directly in space. It may seem complicated, but a team of scientists from the University of California San Diego has published a method to do it using plants as allies.
The key is in the viruses. These scientists have developed a method in which viruses are used as vectors to make proteins with pharmacological potential directly in plant cells. This is doubly advantageous, as the plants, in turn, can be used to recycle the air and water in the warehouses.
These types of methods are already done on Earth, but normally, to extract drugs from plants, equipment is needed that is too large to take to Mars. However, they have found a way to redirect these substances to a compartment in the leaves called the apoplast and, from there, extract it without destroying them or using complex instruments.
Experiments on the ISS. In the experiments carried out on the ISS It has been seen that, under space conditions, there are many drugs that degrade too quickly. This is, for example, the case of certain medications, such as amoxicillin or levofloxacin, but also of treatments for chronic diseases, such as levothyroxine.
Similar effects have also been detected in analgesics and anti-inflammatories, such as aspirin and ibuprofen, or antihistamines such as loratadine. These are all medicines that could be useful when long-term bases are set up on Mars, so it is important to look for ways to build medicine factories there.
Plants like factories. The authors of the study just published turned to the cowpea mosaic virus, a virus known to infect some plants, but also to stimulate the immune system and attack cancer cells in mouse and dog models. To carry out this new study, they infected plants of Nicothiana benthamianawhich are characterized by generating a lot of biomass in a short time. Thus, many viral particles could be obtained.
Image of the plant that was used in the study
Not all medicines come from viruses. This virus has pharmacological potential, but it is true that not all medicines are originally viruses. Most, in fact, are not. However, what is done in these cases is to genetically modify the virus so that, when synthesizing its own proteins, it also synthesizes proteins that can be used as medicines. They become factories for the medicine you want. When this occurs, the leaves are crushed and the medicine is extracted with very large instruments. It is very unviable in space, but these scientists have found an alternative.
Much simpler. Some plants have the ability to secrete proteins inside a compartment known as an apoplast. These scientists saw a way to pour the desired proteins into that location and then remove them without major complications. To do this, the leaves of the plant are placed in a buffer solution. The mixture is then transferred to a sealed container, to which a vacuum is applied that allows the tampon liquid that has been introduced into the leaves to flow into the apoplast.
In this process, the proteins of interest will have been extracted. Once this is done, the leaves are transferred to vials and centrifuged, so that the apoplast liquid is separated from the rest of the leaf. From there, the drug can be extracted.
Simulated conditions. This process has been carried out on Earth, with more than 50 plants in less than two hours. Many of the plants were exposed to spatial simulation conditions, such as microgravitysudden temperature fluctuations or oxidative stress. Interestingly, not only was there no problem, but some plants also improved performance in cases of oxidative stress. This is because, in general, viruses attack organisms subjected to this type of stress more efficiently. It is usually a bad thing, but when the virus comes with a gift it is a blessing. We will have to continue investigating, but this study is on the right track.
Image | Magnificent | David Baillot/UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering
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