Space travel impacts skin, hair of mice

Researchers are learning more about the way space travel affects the body.

According to a recently published study on mice, microgravity may have been to blame for the thinning of their skin and disrupted hair growth cycle.

As part of the 2009 experiment, six mice were launched on a 91-day mission to the International Space Station in specially designed compartments with automated food and water systems.

The three that survived were euthanized upon arrival back to Earth, and their skin, organs, and remaining parts were distributed among 20 teams for study.

Based on different analyses, the scientists determined that all three specimens displayed "a significant reduction of dermal thickness."

It is thought that this thinning could provide insight into the skin irritation, rashes, and long heal time that astronauts have experienced on previous trips into space.

The weightlessness is thought to cause changes to the skin at the genetic level which could also be disrupting normal hair follicle activities.

Whereas the hair should have been in a resting cycle, they were in an unusually active state.

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