The study was conducted by Roscosmos scientists together with colleagues from the Belgian University of Antwerp. The work was headed by a university employee, Dr. Floris Vuits.
12 male cosmonauts who completed the necessary studies 2 months before the launch into space, as well as 2 weeks after returning to earth, participated in the experiment. Each of the participants of the experiment spent about a week on the ISS in a state of weightlessness. 7 months after the end of the flight, the subjects again underwent a number of necessary brain studies.
According to the results of diffuse MRI scans of the brain of the participants in the experiment, significant changes were found in the neural connections between the brain centers responsible for movement. During a long stay in space, neural connections have rebuilt their work under the conditions of weightlessness. Scientists note that repeated studies conducted 7 months after the astronauts returned to Earth showed that the atypical pattern of neural connections persists.
Scientists hope that their scientific work will allow us to investigate the degree of influence of prolonged stay in space on the human body to find ways to protect against this influence.
