关键词:
.NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL
RECORDINGS
SCORPI
摘要:
The International Space Station ISS offers the opportunity for physiological long-term observations in microgravity in awake animals. The 3-month period of experimentation favours heredity, development and physiological adapta- tion as scientific fields that can profit from those long- term exposures to microgravity. However, the most com- plicating problems are (i) the lack of proper animal habi- tats, and (ii) the available crew time. These facts dramati- cally decrease the types of experiments and, in particular, the animal species that can be used for long-term studies. From the methodological point of view, automatic working recording devices are the most suitable tech- niques. Experience with neurophysiological long-term recordings based on ground studies, in particular in in- sects (cf. Miller, 1979), favours the study of central inte- gration of neuronal, sensory and muscular activity of the organisms and, in particular, its adaptation to the micro- gravity environment. The lack of proper animal habitats on ISS favours the use of animals that are adapted to a life in extreme environmental conditions with rare food sup- ply. Only those animals can be used that are adapted to a life in extreme environmental conditions and that are able to starve for long periods of their life due to limited ac- cess to food and water. Desert animals such as beetles and scorpions are species of first choice.