Role of Apoptosis in Lymphocyte Depression-2 (ROALD-2)
Research Area: Cellular Biology
Expedition(s): 29 and 30
Principal Investigator(s): ● Natalia Battista, PhD, University of Teramo, Teramo, Italy
● Mauro Maccarrone, University of Teramo, Teramo, Italy
● Natalia Battista, University of Teramo, Teramo, Italy
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
The goal of the Role of Apoptosis in Lymphocyte
Depression-2 (ROALD-2) project experiment is to
investigate the “endocannabinoid system,” (that
is, an ensemble of receptors, metabolic
enzymes, and transporters of bioactive lipids
collectively termed “endocannabinoids”), in
human peripheral lymphocytes exposed to
microgravity aboard the International Space
Station (ISS). The project aim is to determine
possible alterations of the activity and
expression of endocannabinoid system
elements in weightlessness, and their impact on
the regulation of immune cell cycle, growth and
death.
RESULTS
Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMCs) isolated from human donors on the ground were
sent to the ISS on the Soyuz. The experimental activities, performed in the KUBIK incubator,
were stopped at different time points and the experimental containers were stored in the
Minus Eighty Degrees Celsius Laboratory Freezer for the ISS (MELFI) facility. The preliminary
postflight analysis, using quantitative real time-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and
western blot techniques, showed that microgravity alters the expression, at transcriptional and
translational level, of the main AEA-synthesizing and -degrading enzymes. The project will
disclose a potential engagement of endocannabinoid signalling in lymphocyte apoptosis and
immunodepression already documented in space.
PUBLICATION(S)
Battista N, Meloni MA, Bari M, et al. Five-Lipoxygenase-dependent apoptosis of human
lyphocytes in the International Space Station: Data from the ROALD experiment. Federation of
American Societies for Experimental Biology Journal. 2012;26(5):1791-1798. doi: 10.1096/fj.11-
199406.
This investigation is complete and all results are published.
European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers,
Expedition 30 flight engineer, works with the Role of
Apoptosis in Lymphocyte Depression-2 experiment in
the KUBIK-3 incubator located in the Columbus
laboratory of the International Space Station in
December 2011. NASA/ESA image.