Frog Study Could Help Keep Future Space Travelers Healthy

A frog species that lives underground to escape harsh conditions, in Australia, is helping researchers find ways to prevent muscle loss during long space travel.

Scientists at the University of Queensland, Australia, said that they have identified key genes that help burrowing frogs avoid muscle loss despite staying inactive for extended periods of time. The research could also help stop muscle wastage in bed-ridden patients.

Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) in inactive muscles damage proteins. The loss of proteins weakens the muscles and they gradually waste away. The present study could help researchers find a way to slow or even stop this muscle loss.

Green-striped burrowing frogs (Cyclorana alboguttata) live in the arid regions of Australia. The frog escapes into deep burrows and covers itself with a cocoon of shed skin during harsh climate.

"If we can understand the cell signalling pathways that confer resistance to muscle wasting, then these could be useful candidates to study in mammalian muscle atrophy," Beau Reilly, lead author of the study, said in a news release.

According to researchers, two genes - survivin and checkpoint kinase 1 - help the frogs prevent muscle wastage during hibernation.

Survin protects the cells from suicide mechanisms, while checkpoint kinase 1 helps with DNA repair.

"I am fascinated in animals that survive in extreme conditions" Reilly added. "I think humans and modern medicine could learn a great deal from organisms such as burrowing frogs."

According to NASA, maintaining muscle mass in space is tough. Research conducted on astronauts has shown that exercising for five hours a week doesn't help prevent muscle loss.

Related studies have shown that astronauts can lose as much as 40 percent of their muscle mass during a voyage to Mars.