Sept. 15, 2009 -- Researchers have levitated small mice in a powerful magnetic field that simulates the gravity-free world of space.
Their work calls attention to a technology that could help unravel a range of phenomena from the physics of fluids to the genetic underpinnings of osteoporosis.
The research by scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., is intended to supplement and verify experiments conducted aboard the International Space Station, which last month received its first batch of mice for a long-duration stay.
"We can use this facility to create microgravity for a long period of time," lead researcher Yuanming Liu told Discovery News. "We can study if prolonged exposure to reduced gravity can have a long-term impact on the physiology of the mouse."
Levitation devices that generate magnetic fields to counter the tug of gravity have been around for several years, though none have been large enough to float something as big as a mouse.
Bruce Hammer, a professor of radiology at the University of Minnesota, uses magnetic levitation to learn about genes that impact bone loss.
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"Gravity does affect gene expression," said Hammer, who works with cultures of bone cells rather than live animals.
"If you work with an animal, it gets very difficult. If you have them inside the magnet and they're confined, they're going to have reactions that may mask gravitational effects. They're not going to be happy being there."
Liu's team found that out first-hand.
"The mice were disoriented in the beginning. It was spinning inside of the magnet," he said.
Scientists tried again with a mouse that had been sedated. They also provided a cage for it to hang onto while the magnetic force, which acts upon water, floated its body.
The mouse acclimated to its new environment and began eating, Liu said.
The device, called a variable gravity simulator, consists of an electrically charged, liquid helium-cooled magnetic coil to generate a field large enough to levitate water and other common liquids. The room-temperature bore of the magnet has a diameter of 66 millimeters (2.6 inches), large enough to levitate small mammals.
Scientists previously have levitated frogs, grasshoppers and other small critters.
Liu said it took 20 years to ramp up the size of a chamber that would be large enough to levitate a mouse. Building one large enough to float humans is well beyond the grasp of today's technology, he added.
JPL is looking for researchers who may want to use the device to levitate mice for a variety of experiments, including bone loss studies, similar to what is currently under way aboard the space station. The effects of the magnetic field on the animals needs to be further assessed, he added.
A more viable use for faux zero gravity may be to assess physical properties of liquids, the project's original driver, Liu said.
Liu's research is described in the online edition of Advances in Space Research.
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