Monitoring Antioxidant/Redox Status at Concordia (MARS-C) (MARS-C)

Monitoring Antioxidant/Redox Status and Replenishing Nitrogen & Sulfur-based Nutrients to Enhance Resilience at Concordia (MARS-C): Understanding Integrated Stress Signalling

The European Space Agency (ESA) runs a research centre in Antarctica as an earth-based model for long duration deep-space missions. Just like astronauts travelling into space, crew-members overwintering at this Concordia base are exposed to a number of extreme environmental stressors; including high altitude (approximately 3800m); extreme cold; long periods of 24 hour darkness or daylight; and complete isolation. The investigators will recruit up to 30 over-wintering crew members working at this station for ESA over a 2 year period and observe how their bodies adapt and respond to the stress of living and working in this environment. The investigators will collect blood, saliva and urine samples, together with ultrasound images of muscle mass and grip strength measurements at regular intervals throughout their deployment to Antarctica. These samples will be transported back to Southampton to be analysed for biochemical levels of stress. During the final month of their stay, all participants will be randomised to receive a daily nutritional drink which is either high or low in targeted dietary supplements. Following similar studies that the investigators has successfully performed over shorter durations at high altitudes previously, they hypothesise that levels of stress experienced in extreme environments such as Antarctica or deep space can be reduced with targeted nutritional supplementation. These findings may become important to members of the general public as commercial aviation moves increasingly towards using low space-orbital vehicles to drastically reduce international travel times over the coming decade.

Study Overview

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Conditions: Oxidative Stress

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Estimated): 30

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Martin Feelisch, PhD; Phone Number: 023 8120 6891; Email: m.feelisch@soton.ac.uk
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Andrew Cumpstey, BM BCh; Phone Number: 023 8120 5308; Email: a.cumpstey@soton.ac.uk

Study Locations

• United Kingdom
  • Southampton, United Kingdom, SO16 6YD
    • University of Southampton

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

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

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Over-wintering members of Concordia crew

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Adult
• Member of Concordia station over-wintering crew
• Able to give written informed consent
• Fluent in either English, French or Italian

Exclusion Criteria:

• Participating in another interventional research study during the deployment to Concordia

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Observational Models: Cohort
• Time Perspectives: Prospective

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Hand grip strength	Forearm muscle / grip strength recorded non-invasively using a hand grip dynamometer	up to 10 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Muscle mass	cross sectional forearm muscle area recorded a standardised way using medical ultrasound	up to 10 months
Oxidative stress	Nitrate, nitrite, nitroso species, FRAP, TFTs, glutathione ratios, 8-isoprostane,	up to 10 months
Lake Louise Score 2018	A validated measure of altitude related symptoms and illness which scores symptoms across 4 different domains: headache, GI disturbance, fatigue & dizziness. Each is scored from 0 - 3 (for no symptoms to very debilitating respectively) and a total score of 3 or more including at headache symptoms is required for a positive diagnosis of Acute Mountain Sickness	up to 10 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Southampton
• Collaborators: European Space Agency
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Martin Feelisch, PhD, University of Southampton

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): October 3, 2022
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2024
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: December 4, 2019
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 11, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): December 13, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): January 11, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 9, 2024
• Last Verified: January 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: 49348

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No