Clinical trial NCT03463096: Advanced Gravitational Physiology the Lung Under High-G Acceleration
Official title: Advanced Gravitational Physiology the Lung Under High-G Acceleration
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Respiratory Physiology
Keywords: respiratory
physiology
gravity
Lead sponsor: King's College London
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: University of Oxford
name: QinetiQ Ltd
name: UK Space Agency
First posted: 2018-03-13
Enrollment: 15
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 55
Standard ages: ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: NA
Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE

Brief summary: This is a study of advanced lung physiology in altered gravitational conditions, consisting of respiratory measurements in healthy volunteers during high G acceleration on a long-arm human centrifuge.

Detailed description: The lung is highly gravity-dependent - it has little actual tissue mass and deforms under its own weight. This is relevant to astronauts in space, but is actually much more broadly important to life on Earth. Every time we change our posture - for example from lying to standing - the direction in which gravity acts across the lung changes. These postural effects can become clinically important in critically ill patients. Currently there is debate in the scientific world about how gravity actually influences lung function, and how it interacts with other factors such as the anatomical structure of the airways and blood vessels of the lung. New technology developed by researchers at the University of Oxford now has the potential to help answer some of these questions. This device uses a technique called laser absorption spectroscopy to make measurements of breathing gases that are much more accurate than previous techniques - it is able to count the number of oxygen, carbon dioxide and water vapour molecules in and out while a person breathes. A non-invasive 15-minute breathing test with this technology provides information on the distributions of airflow and blood flow in the lungs, and it has been deployed successfully in the operating theatre and in intensive care units. This study aims to make comprehensive measurements of lung physiology under altered gravitational conditions and develop the technology and measurement techniques for possible future use in microgravity. This will include measurements of oxygen and carbon dioxide from the laser gas analyser (and measures of lung inhomogeneity obtained from these), lung mechanics and breathing drive.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* healthy volunteer who has provided informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

* any significant medical problem, as documented extensively in the study ethics documentation.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Lung inhomogeneity index
timeFrame: Determined over a 15-minute multi-breath washout at 3 G on the centrifuge
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: London
country: United Kingdom
facility: Centre of Human and Aerospace Physiological Sciences
Study officials:
affiliation: King's College London
name: Thomas G Smith
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: