Prospects of application of tear fluid analysis in aerospace medicine

Introduction. The improvement of methods for remote health monitoring of astronauts, as well as the search for new noninvasive biomarkers of metabolic adaptation to microgravity conditions, are priority directions in the field of aerospace medicine.

Objective. To assess the possibility of using individual indicators of tear fluid in aerospace medicine.

Discussion. A number of prospects for the application of human tear biomarkers to determine disorders occurring under the influence of spaceflight factors or during their imitation were identified. The use of filter paper is a priority method for collecting lachrymal fluid in spaceflight conditions due to its relative noninvasiveness and simplicity of sample preparation for assay. It was found that the unstimulated tear fluid contains proteins with an antibacterial activity: lysozyme, lipocalin, and secretory immunoglobulin A. The concentration of lysozyme in the tear fluid shows a marked increase relative to pre- and post-flight values. Changes in the concentration of natriuretic peptide, angiotensin II, dopamine, and α2-macroglobulin under conditions of real and simulated microgravity are described. A high diagnostic potential of determining the level of D-dimer in tear fluid under the influence of extreme factors of space flight was established.

Conclusions. The conducted literature review emphasizes the significant theoretical potential for the quantitative determination of natriuretic peptide, D-dimer, and individual components of the dopamine and renin-angiotensin-aldosterone systems in tear fluid for noninvasive diagnostics of pathological processes associated with spaceflight factors.

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