Investigation of the copper content in blood serum and its ultrafiltrate under the conditions of experimental space flight simulation

In the Mars-500 experiment on remote space flight simulation, atomic emission spectral analysis with inductively coupled argon plasma was used to measure serum copper and its ultrafiltrated fraction. It was shown that, in contrast to baseline data, the Cu serum level varied within the normal physiological boundaries throughout the entire simulation experiment. These variations were syncronized in all the serum samples. In several periods of the experiment, reduction in serum Cu within the baseline range was equivalent to simultaneous reduction in ceruloplasmin. Amount of free Cu (ultrafiltration) fraction, i.e., that not bound to the blood serum proteins, was constant at all times. Since the simulation experiment is not a perfect analogy of space flight because of non-reproducibility of some factors, ionizing radiation specifically, we should take into consideration shifts in the serum copper balance caused by the action of space radiation on the human body. Radiation-induced copper imbalance in the blood serum is not only a marker of disturbed oxidase function of blood, but also points to a mechanism of further pathological outcome of toxic excessive copper accumulation in the brain, liver and kidney.