Space-grown lettuce could help astronauts avoid bone loss

NASA is planning to send humans to Mars in the near future. The astronauts will be exposed to a long period of microgravity, which will cause them to lose bone mass. Scientists say that a genetically modified lettuce produces a bone-stimulating hormone. Someday, astronauts could grow lettuce in space and help protect against bone loss by eating a big bowl of salad. The researchers say that the lettuce might help prevent osteoporosis in resource-limited areas.

The results will be presented at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society.

The astronauts on the International Space Station are trying to maintain their bone mass.

The 3-year mission could leave astronauts vulnerable to osteoporosis. A medication containing a fragment of human parathyroid hormone could help restore bone mass in microgravity, but it requires daily injections. It's impractical to transport large quantities of medication and needles to space. Yates; Somen Nandi, PhD.D.; Karen McDonald, PhD.D.; and their colleagues wanted to find a way for astronauts to produce it themselves while also enjoying some tasty greens, which are severely lacking in astronauts.

The astronauts can grow a few thousand seeds in a small amount of lettuce, which is just like regular lettuce.

On the International Space Station, astronauts have shown they can grow lettuce. The University of California, Davis, where Yates, Nandi and McDonald are working, wanted to develop a lettuce that could be taken in a pill, instead of by injection. The special lettuce could help treat osteopenia in regions that don't have access to traditional medications. The fragment crystallizable (Fc) domain of a human antibody was attached to PTH to increase its stability. The Fc fragment increases the time that the attached peptide circulates in the blood, making it more effective.

The researchers introduced a gene to the lettuce by infecting plant cells with a species ofbacteria used in the lab to transfer genes to plants. The plants were screened for PTH-Fc production. According to preliminary results, the plants express about a tenth of the modified peptide hormone per kilogram of fresh lettuce. According to Yates, astronauts would need to eat about 8 cups of lettuce a day to get a sufficient dose of the hormone.

McDonald says they are screening all of the lines to find the one with the highest PTH-Fc expression. The higher we can boost the expression, the smaller the amount of lettuce that needs to be consumed.

Although the researchers haven't tasted the lettuce yet, they think it will taste the same as regular lettuce. The researchers will test the lettuce for its ability to prevent bone loss in animal models and human clinical trials before it can be used in astronauts. Yates predicts that if we send astronauts to Mars, plants will not be used to produce pharmaceuticals and other beneficial compounds.

More information: Development of a plant generated therapeutic made in-flight to treat microgravity osteopenia, ACS Spring 2022. acs.digitellinc.com/acs/live/22/page/677 Citation: Space-grown lettuce could help astronauts avoid bone loss (2022, March 22) retrieved 22 March 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-03-space-grown-lettuce-astronauts-bone-loss.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.