Original publication date: April 30, 1998
Two doctors aboard space shuttle Columbia cut into the legs of six anesthetized baby rats Wednesday as part of a study of how nerves develop in weightlessness.
It was the first surgery ever performed in space on creatures meant to survive. Previously, astronauts merely dissected dead animals.
Astronauts Jay Buckey Jr. and Saskatoon-born Dave Williams would have operated on one or two more rats if not for the surprisingly high mortality rate among the rodents aboard the shuttle.
The death count rose Wednesday to 51 more than half of the 96 baby rats launched aboard Columbia two weeks ago. The cause of death: low blood sugar, low body temperature and dehydration, all due to maternal neglect.
Because of the dwindling pool of young rodents, Buckey and Williams picked six of the fittest animals for leg surgery.
The men made a small incision in both hind legs, injected a fluorescent dye, then sealed the wounds using surgical glue.
"Everything went well," Buckey reported. "All six rats have recovered."
The rats will be killed and dissected by the astronauts Friday. The dye injected into the animals’ muscles will have spread by then to their spinal cords, allowing researchers to see how muscles and nerves develop in weightlessness.
The success of the surgery bodes well for bigger operations on bigger subjects especially humans, said Joe Bielitzki, NASA’s chief veterinarian.
Researchers want to see, among other things, how wounds heal in weightlessness. This is especially important as NASA begins building a space station and considers sending people to Mars.
As for the unexpected rodent deaths, Bielitzki said he won’t know what went wrong until the animals and cages are examined after the flight.
The surrogate mother rats could not or would not nurse the young animals, which were 9 days old when launched April 17.
The fact that these were first-time mothers may have contributed to the problem, Bielitzki said. The cages also may have been ill-designed for baby rodents; for instance, the nesting area may need to be more confined next time to prevent young animals from floating into a corner, he said.
"It’s way too soon to say" whether space is an inhospitable place for nursing mammals, Bielitzki said.
"We don’t know much about the physiology of reproduction, the physiology of lactation."
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