Long-term exposure to the microgravity environment results in reduced bone and muscle mass, which is a limiting step in the duration of space missions. The monitoring of the biochemical aspects of this reduction depends, at present, on the collection of blood and/or urine samples. The definition of other simple tools for monitoring the bone/muscle status could be of help in detection, treatment and control of the microgravity-induced reduction in bone/muscle mass. Check-Saliva research focuses on the use of saliva and urine as a non-invasive tool to monitor some of the metabolic changes secondary to the microgravity-induced reduction in bone/muscle mass. Saliva and urine are biological fluids, which can be easily and repeatedly collected without risks. Past and recent data from different laboratories consistently indicate that the chemical composition of saliva and urine reflects, in many aspects, the chemical composition of blood. This is true also for some markers of bone or muscle conditions. In fact, saliva, urine, and blood tend to have similar levels of bone mineral components (calcium and phosphate), of bone-related vitamins (vitamin D), and of end-products of muscle protein (urea), etc. Therefore tests using Check-Saliva can validate whether saliva and/or urine can be used as simple, non- invasive tools to monitor crewmembers' bone and muscle status during a space mission.
‣ News
WEDNESDAY 14 SEPTEMBER 2022
SAMANTHA CRISTOFORETTI WILL BE THE COMMANDER OF THE ISS ‣

AstroSamantha will become the first European astronaut in command of the International Space Station MORE...
THURSDAY 21 JULY 2022
ASTROSAMANTHA, THE FIRST EUROPEAN SPACEWALKER ‣

First extravehicular activity for Samantha Cristoforetti MORE...
TUESDAY 19 JULY 2022
AGILE, published the first article about the “New Year’s Burst” ‣

On Friday 15 July, the first detailed study on this "New Year's Burst" was published in the Astrophysical Journal, using data acquired by the AGILE satellite MORE...
MONDAY 11 JULY 2022
Fermi-LAT collaboration has released the updated list of cosmic gamma-ray sources to date ‣

The third release of the Fermi Point Source Catalog (4FGL-DR3) covers 12 years of data taken by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board of the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope MORE...
WEDNESDAY 18 MAY 2022
SECOND MEETING IN SPACE WITH ASTROSAMANTHA ‣

The Italian experiments of the Minerva mission were presented MORE...