Active transmembrane drug transport in microgravity

What is it about?

ABC Transporters are located in all cells of the human body. They serve multiple important physiological functions and play a significant role in drug metabolism. We studied their activity under weightlessness and found a significant reduction of their ability to transport drugs across human cell membranes. This finding is astonishing for two reasons. First, that the lack of gravity is able to affect metabolic processes in which stronger intermolecular forces are the dominant factor, a game-changer in current Biochemestry. Second, that drug metabolism is different in space, which poses concerns about drug use during future human space exploration missions and opens a whole new field for drug study and development with potential benefits for terrestrial medicine.

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