The Influence of Microgravity to Pathology and Physiology of the Eye

An ancient saying goes that the sky is black, the earth is yellow, and the universe is vast and boundless; the sun is straight and slant, the moon may wax or wane, and the stars are interspersed in the endless space. It shows the understanding of the vast universe and desire of exploring the mysterious space for ancient Chinese. With the development of space technology, the illusory dream of space travel has come true, making humanity truly free from the gravity of the earth and step into an unpredictable vast new world. Standing in space, the earth is only like a drop in the ocean. What will happen to the structure of human body when out of the earth’s “microenvironment,” in which we are constantly evolving and perfectly adapting over millions of years? And which way should we take to realize the physiological function adjustment and adapt the huge change of living environment? These are problems that need to be studied and solved for the human’s developing space travel. Thus, this proposal requires the researchers to inspect the “eye” in such special environment from the perspective of integrative medicine. In addition to the impact of radiation on the local part of the eye, as part of the body, the eye is bound to suffer from the secondary effects due to the changes of blood circulation of the whole body under the state of vacuum and microgravity. At the same time, through the study on the structure and function changes of the eye and body in such special environment, we are offered a unique “model” to enable us to acquire a better understanding and knowledge of the current diseases.