Muscle and cartilage in Antarctic over-winterers

Nothing is known about changes in skeletal muscle and joint cartilage physiology during a winterover stay. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the role of decreased activity levels has gained a high level of attention, and it is therefore of interest to the entire society to study effects of confinement on muscle and cartilage physiology. We hypothesize that during a winter-over stay in Concordia station with isolation, confinement and hypoxia combined, individuals become less active, leading to impaired fat metabolism and systemic inflammation, oxidative stress and changes in circulating neurotrophic factors that impair muscle volume, muscle function, and cartilage volume and quality, that all are associated with impaired gait and agility. We suggest to assess gait kinematics and activity levels throughout the winter in Antarctica with an RGB-video camera system and AI-based marker-free automated motion analysis. In addition, we wish to quantify changes in muscle and cartilage volume (MRI measurements), hand grip force, serum markers of neuromuscular interaction, circulating myokines, angiogenic and neurotrophic factors, oxidative stress and systemic inflammation, fat metabolism and the lipid profile, and cartilage physiology. We are interested in correlations between the above parameters, as well as with the standard measurements conducted by ESA.