The Chinese space station will be built around 2020. As a national space laboratory, it will offer unique opportunities for studying the physiological effects of weightlessness and the efficacy of the countermeasures against such effects. In this paper, we described the development of countermeasure systems in the Chinese space program. To emphasize the need of the Chinese space program to implement its own program for developing countermeasures, we reviewed the literature on the negative physiological effects of weightlessness, the challenges of completing missions, the development of countermeasure devices, the establishment of countermeasure programs, and the efficacy of the countermeasure techniques in American and Russian manned spaceflights. In addition, a brief overview was provided on the Chinese research and development on countermeasures to discuss the current status and goals of the development of countermeasures against physiological problems associated with weightlessness.
Endocrine regulators, cytokines, and cell signaling mediators
Urinary measures
Skeletal, muscular, peptide histological spectrum
Immunology
Stress measures
Neuroendocrine hormones and cytokines in response to biochemical and psychological stress
Oxidative stress measures
Protein oxidative damage, lipid peroxidation damage, nucleic acid DNA/RNA damage
Immune status
Leukocyte subset distribution, T cell function, T cell cytokine production profiles, antioxidant analysis
Biological rhythm
Serum measures
Epigenetic detection index
Saliva measures
Melatonin, cortisol
Tab.1
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