ArticleScience advances2020
Macro- and microstructural changes in cosmonauts' brains after long-duration spaceflight.
Article in Science advances, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 51 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
51 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Effect of spaceflight experience on human brain structure, microstructure, and function: systematic review of neuroimaging studies.Brain imaging and behavior · 2024Pooled it
- Neurological complications in microgravity and long duration spaceflight.NPJ microgravity · 2026Review
- Sensory Deprivation and the Brain: Neurobiological Mechanisms, Psychological Effects, and Clinical Implications.Brain sciences · 2026Review
- Brain displacement and nonlinear deformation following human spaceflight.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Neural activation is enhanced with operational task ecological validity during complex cognitive tasks.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Article
- Neural changes in microgravity: Investigating the effects of aerospace environments.IBRO neuroscience reports · 2025Review
- Spaceflight and Ground-Based Microgravity Simulation Impact on Cognition and Brain Plasticity.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- [Potential biological mechanisms underlying spaceflight-induced depression symptoms in astronauts].Zhong nan da xue xue bao. Yi xue ban = Journal of Central South University. Medical sciences · 2025Review
- Crewmember demographic factors and their association with brain and ocular changes following spaceflight.NPJ microgravity · 2025Article
- Brains in space: impact of microgravity and cosmic radiation on the CNS during space exploration.Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2025Review
- Navigating mental health in space: gut-brain axis and microbiome dynamics.Experimental & molecular medicine · 2025Review
- Brain and cerebrospinal fluid 3D center of mass shift after spaceflight.NPJ microgravity · 2025Article
- Spaceflight Associated Neuro-ocular Syndrome (SANS) and its countermeasures.Progress in retinal and eye research · 2025Review
- Purine metabolism in bone marrow microenvironment inhibits hematopoietic stem cell differentiation under microgravity.Stem cell research & therapy · 2025Article
- Space exploration and risk of Parkinson's disease: a perspective review.NPJ microgravity · 2025Review
- Dynamic Changes in Hindlimb Motor Cortex Neurons during Simulated Weightlessness Revealed by Miniature 2-Photon Microscopy.Research (Washington, D.C.) · 2025Article
- Effect of artificial gravity on neurocognitive performance during head-down tilt bedrest.NPJ microgravity · 2024Article
- The human biology of spaceflight.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2024Article
- Influence of microgravity on spontaneous calcium activity of primary hippocampal neurons grown in microfluidic chips.NPJ microgravity · 2024Article
- Long-term space missions' effects on the human organism: what we do know and what requires further research.Frontiers in physiology · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
20 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Long-duration spaceflight causes widespread physiological changes, although its effect on brain structure remains poorly understood. In this work, we acquired diffusion magnetic resonance imaging to investigate alterations of white matter (WM), gray matter (GM), and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) compositions in each voxel, before, shortly after, and 7 months after long-duration spaceflight. We found increased WM in the cerebellum after spaceflight, providing the first clear evidence of sensorimotor neuroplasticity. At the region of interest level, this increase persisted 7 months after return to Earth. We also observe a widespread redistribution of CSF, with concomitant changes in the voxel fractions of adjacent GM. We show that these GM changes are the result of morphological changes rather than net tissue loss, which remained unclear from previous studies. Our study provides evidence of spaceflight-induced neuroplasticity to adapt motor strategies in space and evidence of fluid shift-induced mechanical changes in the brain.
Identifiers
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.