There’s a new way spaceflight collides with the human body. A study on mice in a simulated space environment suggests that being weightless and not protected from space radiation by Earth’s atmosphere may have detrimental effects on vascular tissue associated with erectile dysfunction.

More than a year after the experiment, the mice showed signs of erectile dysfunction, which appears to be caused by galactic cosmic radiation spreading through space.

“Although erectile dysfunction affects the majority of men over age 40 and is an important factor in life satisfaction, the effects of space travel on erectile function remain unclear,” wrote a team led by physiologist Manuela Andrade of Florida State University.

“These findings suggest that simulated spaceflight causes long-term impairment in neurovascular erectile function, creating a new health risk that should be considered in deep space exploration.”

Humanity has evolved in the Earth environment since our earliest ancestors came together from bits of nucleic acid in primitive mud. All we knew for hundreds of millions of years was the harsh protection provided by Earth’s gravity and our beautiful, wonderful atmosphere against cosmic radiation.

Even though we’ve been going to space for decades, that’s just a blink of an eye compared to how long we’ve been successful in very specific environments.

In space, in microgravity conditions, in a radiation environment, human physiology begins to go wrong. Effects such as loss of bone and muscle density, fluid redistribution, increased risk of cancer, and excess gas have all been documented or studied. Scientists have even investigated how pregnancy and birth might occur in a space environment. However, according to the research team, sexual health is a neglected area.

“To our knowledge, this study is the first to investigate the effect of real or induced energy,” the researchers write. [sic] “Effect of spaceflight on tissues related to erectile function”.

Their study was conducted on 86 adult male rats divided into six randomized groups. Each of these groups was exposed to simulated space conditions or control conditions. Hindlimb unloading, in which mice hung unnaturally, was used to simulate microgravity; and NASA’s Cosmic Radiation Laboratory was used to treat mice with various doses of simulated galactic cosmic radiation.

The team then examined the effects on the veins and arteries that supply blood to the penis. They found that both microgravity simulation and cosmic ray simulation had an effect; but this cosmic radiation was the biggest problem until 13 months later.

“The most deleterious changes in vascular reactivity resulted from galactic cosmic rays observed after a long recovery period from spaceflight simulations,” the team wrote.

“Taken together, these results suggest that the neurovascular function of erectile tissue may be impaired during the remainder of astronauts’ sexual health after returning to Earth from long-term deep space exploration.”

But researchers also found that these effects can be reversed.

As physiologist and urologist Justin La Favor of Florida State University explains: “Although the adverse effects of galactic cosmic radiation are long-lasting, functional improvements caused by dramatic effects on redox and nitric oxide pathways in tissues suggest that erectile dysfunction may be ameliorated…. ”

And hope is not lost yet for space babies. As retired NASA astronaut Mike Mullane said in an interview Men’s Health About his time in space in 2014: “A couple of times I woke up after sleep and experienced an exhausting situation where I could puncture Kryptonite.” Source