ASGSB 1998 Annual Meeting Abstracts

[17]
GENDER DIFFERENCES IN THE RESPONSES OF RHESUS MONKEYS TO 2G. L.K. Barger, and C.A. Fuller. Section of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, University of California, Davis.

With increasing numbers of women participating in Space Programs, it is important to characterize the responses of females to an altered force environment. This chronic centrifugation study was compared to an identical study done in our lab using male subjects. Six female Rhesus (Macaca mulatta) were housed individually on a 6.0 m diameter centrifuge. Husbandry was performed one hour each day on a non-24 hour basis. Data were collected for: 2 weeks (1G), 2 weeks (2G), and 2 weeks (1G). Water was available ad lib through a lixit system. Drinking counts (number of contacts with the lixit) were summed and stored on a microcomputer in 10 minute bins and volume consumed was recorded daily. A pelletized diet was provided through the Psychomotor Test System (PTS), developed at Georgia State University. Performance on psychomotor and memory based tasks was monitored using the PTS. Each animal was implanted with a telemetry transmitter to measure heart rate and body temperature; these data were stored in 10 minute intervals on microcomputer. Mean, phase, and amplitude of each physiological rhythm was calculated to elucidate any effects on the circadian timing system.

Urine was collected daily. Estrogen and progesterone conjugates were assayed and quantified to assess any variation between phases of the menstrual cycle. Analyses show there are gender differences in the responses of Rhesus monkeys to a hyperdynamic field. (Supported by NASA Grants NAG5-4320 and GSRP NFT-51417, and Zonta Int’l Amelia Earhart Fellowship)

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