Gel-Coated Tubes Flying on SpaceX CRS-29 Will Investigate How the Mucus Lining of the Lungs Affects Drug Delivery

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER (FL), October 31, 2023 – Approximately 10 percent of babies in the U.S. are born prematurely, which puts them at risk for developing respiratory distress syndrome (RDS). Babies with RDS struggle to breathe and keep their airways open because they lack pulmonary surfactants—foamy substances that help inflate the tiny air sacs in their lungs. To open up their airways, infants affected by RDS are often successfully treated with surfactant replacement therapy, which uses liquid plugs to deliver therapeutic drugs from the airway into the lungs. However, for adults who face similar breathing issues, this type of therapy is not as effective. To better understand why, researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) are turning to the microgravityThe condition of perceived weightlessness created when an object is in free fall, for example when an object is in orbital motion. Microgravity alters many observable phenomena within the physical and life sciences, allowing scientists to study things in ways not possible on Earth. The International Space Station provides access to a persistent microgravity environment. environment of the International Space Station (ISSInternational Space Station) National Laboratory.  

In utero, babies depend on their mothers for survival as their bodily systems develop and mature. The lungs begin producing surfactants during the third trimester. So, the earlier a baby is born, the more likely they are to lack the necessary surfactants needed to breathe. But babies are not the only ones affected by respiratory distress disorders.  Adults can face acute respiratory distress syndrome when the smaller air sacs in a lung fail to inflate, making it harder to breathe. 

“Surfactant replacement therapy has had a lot of success in premature babies. It’s really extending that therapy to adults that has not been quite as successful, and we’d like to understand why,” said Emilie Dressaire, an assistant professor at the UCSB College of Engineering. “Our hope is that if we better understand how the mucus is affecting the transport of the plugs, then we can modify how to approach treatment and get the most out of it.” 

Naturally occurring fluids in the body, like mucus, can impact the success of surfactant replacement therapy, especially in adults. Dressaire is hoping that the microgravity conditions of the space station will help her team better understand how the mucus lining of the airway system affects the transport of liquid plugs, such as surfactants, through the airway. As such, her team is launching an investigation on SpaceX’s upcoming 29th Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) mission to study the dynamics of fluids as they move through gel-coated tubes, which mimic the mucosal lining in the human lung. This research could lead to improved drug delivery, and ultimately, a higher treatment success rate. 

Dressaire says her team wants to eliminate the effects of gravity to better understand the effects of mucus on drug delivery. “Is this treatment less effective in adults because of the complexity of the lungs—there are more branches and more pathways the medication has to go through in adult lungs—or is it because of mucus?” she said. 

Adults have bigger bodies and larger lungs, and by performing the experiment in microgravity, the team can nearly eliminate the effects of gravity—which, along with surface tension, helps to drive the transport of liquid plugs through the airways of patients on Earth. At smaller scales (for example, in the tiny air passages deep in the lungs) the effects of surface tension cannot be separated from the effects of gravity, making it difficult to discern the actions of the individual forces.  

By sending the project to space, the team can observe the isolated effects of surface tension on liquid plug transport through a gel—an opportunity that would not be feasible in a laboratory on Earth. The gel is used as a soft layer that simulates mucus in the human body.  The team is using multiple tubes and gel combinations to determine how the amount of gel affects how liquid flows through the tubes. 

“What this project is trying to figure out is how the mucus lining is affecting the transportation of this medication,” Dressaire said. “Is it slowing the medication down? Is it trapping some of it along the way so it’s not reaching the lungs? This is what we hope to determine.”  

The SpaceX CRS-29 mission, scheduled to launch from Kennedy Space Center on November 5 at 10:01 p.m. EST, includes more than 15 ISS National Lab-sponsored payloads. To learn more about all ISS National Lab-sponsored research on this mission, please visit our launch page. 

Download a high-resolution for this release: SpaceX CRS-28 on the launchpad

Media Contact:       
Patrick O’Neill
904-806-0035
PONeill@ISSNationalLab.org

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About the International Space Station (ISS) U.S. National Laboratory: The International Space Station (ISS) is a one-of-a-kind laboratory that enables research and technology development not possible on Earth. As a public service enterprise, the ISS National Lab allows researchers to leverage this multiuser facility to improve life on Earth, mature space-based business models, advance science literacy in the future workforce, and expand a sustainable and scalable market in low Earth orbit(Abbreviation: LEO) The orbit around the Earth that extends up to an altitude of 2,000 km (1,200 miles) from Earth’s surface. The International Space Station’s orbit is in LEO, at an altitude of approximately 250 miles.. Through this orbiting national laboratory, research resources on the ISS are available to support non-NASA science, technology and education initiatives from U.S. government agencies, academic institutions, and the private sector. The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space™ (CASIS™(Abbreviation: CASIS™) The nonprofit organization that manages the ISS National Lab, which receives at least 50 percent of the U.S. research allocation on the International Space Station to facilitate research that benefits humanity (NASA manages the other 50% and focuses on research for space exploration purposes).) manages the ISS National Laboratory®, under Cooperative AgreementA cooperative agreement is Federal assistance that establishes a relationship between the U.S. Government and a recipient in which the principal purpose of the relationship is to accomplish a public purpose of support or stimulation.  Since 2011, the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space™ (CASIS™) has managed the National Laboratory® through a Cooperative Agreement with NASA. with NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration, facilitating access to its permanent microgravity research environment, a powerful vantage point in low Earth orbit, and the extreme and varied conditions of space. To learn more about the ISS National Lab, visit issnationallab.org.

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