Simulating the Effect of Artificial Gravity Induced by Centrifugation on Vascular Compartment Pressures

Interest in long term space travel has encouraged further research and development of space crafts equipped with artificial gravity systems that are able to minimize the negative physiological effects of microgravity. Long-arm centrifugation is a possible way to induce artificial gravity during long-duration spaceflight. The purpose of this project was to model the hemodynamic effects of a long-arm centrifuge. We hypothesized that the artificial gravity simulation would result in similar vascular pressures as the control condition simulation, representing gravitational conditions on Earth for an individual at rest in the supine position. We used a modified version of the “CVSIM” simulation, which is a 21 compartment, lumped parameter model with control systems for cardiopulmonary and arterial baroreflex. CVSIM is based on an electric analog model of hemodynamics in which each lumped vascular compartment is represented by a resistance and capacitance. The simulation can be found at https://journals.physiology.org/doi/epdf/10.1152/japplphysiol.00241.2001 . The tilt function in CVSIM was modified to model a centrifuge-based artificial gravity system that could be implemented in long-duration spaceflight. The centrifuge model consisted of a 10-meter radius rotating at an angular velocity of 1 radian/second, resulting in an angular acceleration of 10 meters/second2. Two 100-second duration simulations were performed. The first was with the centrifuge component on (ON), and the second simulation was performed with the centrifuge component off (OFF). The second simulation was intended to represent resting, supine hemodynamics in a terrestrial gravity environment. Peak systolic and diastolic pressures over 20 cardiac cycles for the renal, splanchnic, leg, and carotid vascular compartments were averaged for analysis. Two-tailed t-tests were used to determine the impact of the artificial gravity system simulation compared to resting supine simulation on average systolic and diastolic pressures in each compartment. Simulation results revealed that, compared to the OFF simulation, renal pressures were higher in the ON simulation (systolic: 124.2 ± 5.5mmHg versus 103.3 ± 5.7mmHg, p<0.001; diastolic: 100.5 ± 5.7mmHg versus 79.2 ± 5.4mmHg, p<0.001), splanchnic pressures were higher in the ON simulation (systolic: 126.8 ± 5.0mmHg versus 103.7 ± 5.7mmHg, p<0.001; diastolic: 102.3 ± 5.7mmHg versus 79.1± 5.4mmHg, p<0.001), leg pressures were higher in the ON simulation (systolic: 151.0 ± 5.3mmHg versus 103.8 ± 5.7mmHg, p<0.001; diastolic: 127.0 ± 5.7mmHg versus 79.4± 5.6mmHg, p<0.001), and carotid pressures were higher in the ON simulation ((systolic: 118.3 ± 4.5mmHg versus 107.8 ± 7.0mmHg, p<0.001; diastolic: 90.8 ± 5.4mmHg versus 82.1± 5.7mmHg, p<0.001). In conclusion, initial results from this simulation suggest that more work is needed to model the physiological impact of this artificial gravity system on human space travelers. This work is supported by Iowa Space Grant Consortium/NASA grant No. 103428-19-20. This abstract was presented at the American Physiology Summit 2025 and is only available in HTML format. There is no downloadable file or PDF version. The Physiology editorial board was not involved in the peer review process.