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Head-down tilt bed rest (HDBR) has been used as a spaceflight analog to study some of the effects of microgravity on human physiology, cognition, and sensorimotor functions. Previous studies have reported declines in balance control and functional mobility after spaceflight and HDBR. In this study we investigated how the brain activation for foot movement changed with HDBR. Eighteen healthy men participated in the current HDBR study. They were in a 6° head-down tilt position continuously for 70 days. Functional MRI scans were acquired to estimate brain activation for foot movement before, during, and after HDBR. Another 11 healthy men who did not undergo HDBR participated as control subjects and were scanned at four time points. In the HDBR subjects, the cerebellum, fusiform gyrus, hippocampus, and middle occipital gyrus exhibited HDBR-related increases in activation for foot tapping, whereas no HDBR-associated activation decreases were found. For the control subjects, activation for foot tapping decreased across sessions in a couple of cerebellar regions, whereas no activation increase with session was found. Furthermore, we observed that less HDBR-related decline in functional mobility and balance control was associated with greater pre-to-post HDBR increases in brain activation for foot movement in several cerebral and cerebellar regions. Our results suggest that more neural control is needed for foot movement as a result of HDBR. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Long-duration head-down bed rest serves as a spaceflight analog research environment. We show that brain activity in the cerebellum and visual areas during foot movement increases from pre- to post-bed rest and then shows subsequent recovery. Greater increases were seen for individuals who exhibited less decline in functional mobility and balance control, suggestive of adaptive changes in neural control with long-duration bed rest.

PurposeSpaceflight negatively affects sensorimotor behavior; exercise mitigates some of these effects. Head down tilt bed rest (HDBR) induces body unloading and fluid shifts, and is often used to investigate spaceflight effects. Here, we examined whether exercise mitigates effects of 70 days HDBR on the brain and if fitness and brain changes with HDBR are related.MethodsHDBR subjects were randomized to no-exercise (n = 5) or traditional aerobic and resistance exercise (n = 5). Additionally, a flywheel exercise group was included (n = 8). Exercise protocols for exercise groups were similar in intensity, therefore these groups were pooled in statistical analyses. Pre and post-HDBR MRI (structure and structural/functional connectivity) and physical fitness measures (lower body strength, muscle cross sectional area, VO2 max, body composition) were collected. Voxel-wise permutation analyses were used to test group differences in brain changes, and their associations with fitness changes.ResultsComparisons of exercisers to controls revealed that exercise led to smaller fitness deterioration with HDBR but did not affect brain volume or connectivity. Group comparisons showed that exercise modulated post-HDBR recovery of brain connectivity in somatosensory regions. Posthoc analysis showed that this was related to functional connectivity decrease with HDBR in non-exercisers but not in exercisers. Correlational analyses between fitness and brain changes showed that fitness decreases were associated with functional connectivity and volumetric increases (all r >.74), potentially reflecting compensation. Modest brain changes or even decreases in connectivity and volume were observed in subjects who maintained or showed small fitness gains. These results did not survive Bonferroni correction, but can be considered meaningful because of the large effect sizes.ConclusionExercise performed during HDBR mitigates declines in fitness and strength. Associations between fitness and brain connectivity and volume changes, although unadjusted for multiple comparisons in this small sample, suggest that supine exercise reduces compensatory HDBR-induced brain changes.

Multisensory—visual, vestibular and somatosensory information is integrated for appropriate postural control. The primary goal of this study was to assess somatosensory utilization during a functional motor task of unipedal postural control, in normal healthy adults. Assessing individual bias in the utilization of individual sensory contributions during postural control may help customization of rehabilitation protocols. In this study, a test paradigm of unipedal stance control in supine orientation with and without vision was assessed. Postural control in this test paradigm was hypothesized to utilize predominantly contributions of somatosensory information from the feet and ankle joint, with minimal vestibular input. Fourteen healthy subjects “stood” supine on their dominant leg while strapped to a backpack frame that was freely moving on air-bearings, to remove available otolith tilt cues with respect to gravity that influences postural control when standing upright. The backpack was attached through a cable to a pneumatic cylinder that provided a gravity-like load. Subjects performed three trials each with Eyes-open (EO) and Eyes-closed (EC) while loaded with 60% body weight. There was no difference in unipedal stance time (UST) across the two conditions with EC condition challenging the postural control system greater than the EO condition. Stabilogram-diffusion analysis (SDA) indicated that the critical mean square displacement was significantly different between the two conditions. Vestibular cues, both in terms of magnitude and the duration for which relevant information was available for postural control in this test paradigm, were minimized. These results support our hypothesis that maintaining unipedal stance in supine orientation without vision, minimizes vestibular contribution and thus predominantly utilizes somatosensory information for postural control.

Head-down tilt bed rest (HDBR) has been used as a spaceflight analog to simulate the effects of microgravity exposure on human physiology, sensorimotor function, and cognition on Earth. Previous studies have reported that concurrent performance of motor and cognitive tasks can be impaired during space missions. Understanding the consequences of HDBR for neural control of dual tasking may possibly provide insight into neural efficiency during spaceflight. In the current study, we evaluated how dual task performance and the underlying brain activation changed as a function of HDBR. Eighteen healthy men participated in this study. They remained continuously in the 6° head-down tilt position for 70 days. Functional MRI for bimanual finger tapping was acquired during both single task and dual task conditions, and repeated at 7 time points pre-, during- and post-HDBR. Another 12 healthy males participated as controls who did not undergo HDBR. A widely distributed network involving the frontal, parietal, cingulate, temporal, and occipital cortices exhibited increased activation for dual tasking and increased activation differences between dual and single task conditions during HDBR relative to pre- or post-HDBR. This HDBR-related brain activation increase for dual tasking implies that more neurocognitive control is needed for dual task execution during HDBR compared to pre- and post-HDBR. We observed a positive correlation between pre-to-post HDBR changes in dual-task cost of reaction time and pre-to-post HDBR change in dual-task cost of brain activation in several cerebral and cerebellar regions. These findings could be predictive of changes in dual task processing during spaceflight.