Effects of Parabolic Flight on Spatial Cognition and Hippocampal Plasticity (HypoCampus)

The main objective of this experiment is to assess the impact of parabolic flight on (1) spatial memory and orientation, (2) the changes in brain structure and function, and particularly the hippocampal formation, and (3) biochemical markers of stress and neuroplasticity.

A preliminary study will be performed with the aims (1) to test during weightlessness hardware used to administer visuo-spatial testing and (2) to determine the optimal body posture for testing under microgravity conditions (i.e. body posture for which change in visuo-spatial testing induced by weightlessness is maximal).

The main criteria are:

• Structural and functional changes of brain evaluated by fMRI;
• Cognitive performance, and specifically spatial cognition using a series computer-based tasks.
• Key neurotrophins determined in venous blood samples The criteria used in the preliminary experiment is visuo-spatial performance evaluated with a computer-based test assessing spatial cognition.

The investigators hypothesize that hippocampal structure and function, and particularly the dentate gyrus, will be altered after parabolic flight compared to ground based controls. Specifically, the 3 tested hypotheses are:

• Parabolic flight induces changes in hippocampal structure;
• Weightlessness induces changes in cognitive performance, and specifically spatial cognition;
• There is a correlation between changes in hippocampal structure and changes in visuo-spatial memory performance.
• There is a correlation between changes in hippocampal structure and changes in key neurotrophins.

The hypothesis tested during the preliminary experiment is that body posture affects the changes in spatial cognition performance.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Healthy Volunteers
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Assess the impact of parabolic flight

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 24
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• France
  • Caen, France, 14000
    • Caen CHU

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 67 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Healthy volunteers (men or women)
• Aged from 18 to 67
• Affiliated to a Social Security system and, for non-French resident, holding a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC)
• Who accepted to take part in the study
• Who have given their written stated consent
• Who has passed a medical examination similar to a standard aviation medical examination for private pilot aptitude (JAR FCL3 Class 2 medical examination). There will be no additional test performed for subject selection.

Subjects will be staff member of the team or of other teams participating in the parabolic flight campaign.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Person who took part in a previous biomedical research protocol, of which exclusion period is not terminated
• Person with medical history of claustrophobia
• Person with contraindication to MRI
• Pregnant women

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Other: parabolic flight; To evaluate Structural and functional changes, Cognitive performance, and specifically spatial cognition, Key neurotrophins...

Other: Assess the impact of parabolic flight; MRI testing will be performed using a 3T MRI facility in Bordeaux close to Novespace (CHU Pellegrin). Spatial cognition will be assessed using a battery of in-house virtual paradigms General cognitive performance testing will include a wide range of cognitive functions, and particularly executive control using the Cognition Battery Mental status will be assessed on a tablet computer using a visual analogue scale Vigilant attention will be determined using the 3-min Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT) Blood samples (5 mL per collection) will be collected prior to neuroimaging by venepuncture

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Structural and functional changes of brain	evaluated by fMRI	baseline

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Spatial Cognitive performance	using a series computer-based tasks	baseline
Key neurotrophins	determined in venous blood samples	baseline
visuo-spatial performance	evaluated with a computer-based test assessing spatial cognition.	baseline

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University Hospital, Caen
• Collaborators: Novespace
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Pierre DP Denise, PhD, CHU Caen

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Stahn AC, Riemer M, Wolbers T, Werner A, Brauns K, Besnard S, Denise P, Kuhn S, Gunga HC. Spatial Updating Depends on Gravity. Front Neural Circuits. 2020 Jun 5;14:20. doi: 10.3389/fncir.2020.00020. eCollection 2020.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: March 1, 2016
• Primary Completion (Actual): March 1, 2019
• Study Completion (Actual): September 1, 2019

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 21, 2016
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 1, 2016
• First Posted (Estimated): June 2, 2016

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): February 17, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 13, 2026
• Last Verified: November 1, 2016

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: 2015-A02014-45

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO