[Characteristics of Triticum vulgare in the early phases of development (ontogenesis) in space flight]. / Osobennosti Triticum vulgare na pervykh fazakh razvitiia (ontogeneza) v usloviiakh kosmicheskogo poleta.

The effect of space flight factors on the growth and development of wheat grown in a Svetoblock-M unit on the orbital station Mir was investigated. The data obtained allow the conclusion that wheat plants develop flight-induced changes. When compared to control plants, experimental plants show a delayed growth in terms of biometric parameters, different distribution of biogenic elements, lower phytoncidal activity, increased bacterial and fungal contamination, and a changed pigment and lipid composition.

[Formation of microbial biocenosis of wheat in a manned spacecraft]. / Formirovanie mikrobnogo tsenoza rastenii pshenitsy v usloviiakh obitaemogo kosmicheskogo korablia.

Mutual effects of microbial complexes of biological objects, men and their environment are of crucial importance for manned space missions. The present experiment to study wheat microflora flown in a manned spacecraft was a continuation of investigations the purpose of which was to identify the pattern of formation of microbial cenosis of higher plants in a closed ecological system. It was found that the microbial cenosis of plants grown during an early period of vegetation in space was formed under the influence of the anthropogenic factor. It was characterized by a high bacterial and fungal concentration of their phyllosphere and, to a lesser extent rhizosphere, occurrence of Escherichia coli representatives, and increased amount of cellulose-lytic bacteria.

The role of gravity in the phylogeny of structure and function in animal sensors of spatial orientation, and their predicted action in weightlessness.

The evolution of the structural, functional and cytochemical organization of the gravity receptor which determines a body position in the gravitational field of the earth by means of muscular regulation was traced both invertebrates and vertebrates, using electron microscopic and histochemical methods. In the course of evolution of vertebrates, the specialized gravity receptor-statocyst which, as a rule, consists of primary sensory cells and supplies otoliths, is formed. In vertebrates, there exists a vestibular apparatus made up of secondary sensory cells and also having otoliths. The receptor cells, both of statocysts and the vestibular apparatus, are supplied with special antennas (kinocilia and stereocilia). Deviation of the antennas stimulated by displacement of the otoliths resulting from locomotor activity of animals leads to excitation of the receptor cells. When exposed to a modified gravitational field (linear accelerations of 10 g, for 3 min), the receptor cells of the vestibular apparatus, in all classes of vertebrates, show progressive changes in RNA content and protein synthesis (increase followed by decrease) which return to normal only after 12 days. Thus, immediate transfer of animals and man from acceleration to weightlessness appears to be a reason for movement disease. The above consideration showed the need for an experiment in which an animal (with its vestibular apparatus) which had not undergone previous accelerations, would be exposed to weightlessness. Frog embryos, Rana temporaria, at the stage preceding the organogenesis, when the vestibular apparatus and other organs were lacking, were chosen as a suitable subject. Frog embryos at the stage of an early gastrula were placed in a special container Emkon aboard the Soyuz 10 spacecraft. After short accelerations, they were exposed to weightlessness for 44 hours. The embryos were allowed to continue to develop to the stage of early tail bud. The experimental embryos showed normally developed acoustic vesicles and vestibular ganglia. Clear differentiation of the receptor cells with antennas (kinocilia and stereocilia) was found in the acoustic vesicles. Thus, in weightlessness, vestibular apparatus develops just as well as in the gravitational field of the earth. However, only a much longer stay in weightlessness conditions will indicate whether there are any changes in the structural, cytochemical and functional organization of vestibular apparatus. The similarity in the structural, functional and cytochemical organization of the gravity receptor in vertebrates and invertebrates appears to allow the prediction of the behaviour of the gravity receptor as a whole, and of its receptor elements, both in normal and changed gravitational fields. The first attempts were carried out only on the vestibular apparatus of vertebrates.