Featured Research at Touro
Growing Fish Fillets Outside the Fish
Dr. Morris Benjaminson
Touro College School of Health Sciences
Abstract of Research
To be Published in an upcoming issue of the Acta Astronautica.
IN VITRO EDIBLE MUSCLE PROTEIN PRODUCTION SYSTEM (MPPS):
STAGE 1, FISH
M. A. BENJAMINSON , J. A. GILCHRIEST and M. LORENZ
NSR/Touro Applied BioScience Research Consortium, 1700 Union Boulevard, Bay Shore, NY 11706, USA
(Received 20 November 2000; revised version received 5 December 2001)
Abstract -- The working efficiency and state-of-mind of a Space vehicle crew on long-term missions is dependent on the suitability of living conditions including food. Our purpose was to establish the feasibility of an in vitro muscle protein production system (MPPS) for the fabrication of surrogate muscle protein constructs as food products for Space travelers. In the experimental treatments, we cultivated the adult dorsal abdominal skeletal muscle mass of Carassius (Gold fish). An ATCC fish fibroblast cell line was used for tissue engineering investigations. No antibiotics were used during any phase of the research. Our four treatments produced these results: a low contamination rate, self-healing, cell proliferation, a tissue engineered construct of non-homologous co-cultured cells with explants, an increase in tissue size in homologous co-cultures of explants with crude cell mixtures, maintenance of explants in media containing fetal bovine serum substitutes, and harvested explants which resembled fresh fish filets.
We feel that not only have we pointed the way to an innovative, viable means of supplying safe, healthy, nutritious food to Space voyagers on long journeys, but our research also points the way to means of alleviating food supply and safety problems in both the public and private sectors worldwide.
©2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.
1. Introduction
Although voyages of exploration by seafarers in our early history often took years of sailing, the manned exploration of Space is an enterprise which dwarfs other human voyages of discovery on the scale of time. The havoc and discord typical of early pioneering sea voyages punctuated by bad water, weevily hard tack, rancid salt pork and rampant scurvy, is not desirable and not necessary in the Space age. Estimates of a possible 4-year expedition to Mars for a human crew often fail to address the detailed day-to-day morale of the individuals making up this crew. Approaches recommending methods to alleviate these problems have appeared in the literature which includes replacing stored food with systems that generate food on board [1-7].
In another publication in this journal [8], we have addressed the need for biologically based water recovery (BWWR) and cellulosic waste processing facilities (CMCS). The current paper concerns itself with the need for systems which will provide a continuous supply of edible animal muscle protein for the crew, and alleviate re-supply and storage problems associated with long-term Space flights.
1.1. Animal protein, nutrition and health maintenance
An appropriate diet is required to help maintain health and morale, and prevent adverse stress related physiological changes associated with space flight [3, 9-12].
It is doubtful that economics and logistics will allow a 4-year supply of fresh animal muscle food to be carried on board a Mars-bound Space vehicle. Re-supply missions are probably not an option. Equally doubtful is the prospect that the human crew will be satisfied or satiated by a strict vegetarian diet supplied by controlled ecological life support systems (CELSS). Maintenance of crew morale is, however, vital for the success of a mission and a supply of fresh animal muscle protein will help foster this [2-4,7].
For the complete paper, see an upcoming issue of Acta Astronautica (in press).
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