Russian scientists are seeking to study the effect of isolation on the human immune system through an experiment that includes several participants and lasts approximately one year. Sergey Ponomaryov, the director of the Immunology Physiology Laboratory at the Russian Institute of Biomedical Problems, stated that the purpose of the experiment is to monitor how a person's immunity is affected when isolated from the outside world.
Ponomaryov mentioned in an interview with the Russian news agency TASS that participants in the experiment, referred to as "Sirius 23," will undergo isolation for one full year, simulating the long-term isolation experienced by astronauts. He remarked, "We expect that extending the duration of isolation will lead to a decline in health indicators. It is likely that this decline will reach a certain level and stabilize. However, at this point, we cannot confirm this, so we are conducting the experiment and monitoring the changes."
In previous "Sirius" experiments, participants underwent isolation lasting 4 months, which did not show significant changes in the immune system. In a subsequent experiment where isolation lasted 8 months, the immune system was notably affected. According to the director of the Russian Institute, the participation of 6 individuals in each phase of the Sirius experiments is not sufficient to collect adequate statistical data for science. Therefore, some studies are repeated during each experiment in order to compare the obtained data.
