| Summary: | We studied the effect of real microgravity on thyroid cells whose functionality influences cardiovascular, musculoskeletal and nervous system. At this end FRTL-5 thyroid cells were maintained during Texus 44 mission (February 7, 2008 from Kiruna, Sweden). When the parabolic flight brought the sounding rocket to an altitude of 264 km, the culture media without or with TSH were injected in the different samples and the weightlessness prevailed on board for 6 minutes and 19 seconds. Control experiments were performed in parallel on ground and in an on-board 1g centrifuge. Results showed that in the microgravity condition the cells did not present signs of cell proliferation, the sphingomyelinase moved to the nucleus probably influencing signal transduction, the cell membranes presented a rearrangement with modification of lipid composition of the culture medium and loss of the TSH-receptor. The modification of TSH-receptor could explain the absence of cell proliferation.
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