image: Artist's depiction of the potential cardiovascular effects of galactic cosmic radiation during a Mars mission. In the rat study, exposure to simulated galactic cosmic radiation was associated with increased collagen deposition within the coronary vessel wall (perivascular cardiac fibrosis), a finding that emerged during long-term follow-up.
Credit: Dave Kiehl, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Simulated space radiation may damage rat hearts long after exposure
Article URL: https://plos.io/4yHGbBl
Article title: Multiple simulated spaceflight stressors impact cardiac fibrosis, calcium dynamics, immune function, cytokines and gene variants in rat, Rattus norvegicus
Author countries: USA.
Funding: JEB: 80NSSC19K0498 National Aeronautics and Space Administration https://www.nasa.gov/ JEB: 081735 Foundation for Heart Science https://www.heartscience.org/. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Journal
PLOS One
Article Title
Multiple simulated spaceflight stressors impact cardiac fibrosis, calcium dynamics, immune function, cytokines and gene variants in rat, Rattus norvegicus
Article Publication Date
30-Sep-2026
COI Statement
The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.