Ion thrusters for electric propulsion: Scientific issues developing a niche technology into a game changer.

The transition from old space to new space along with increasing commercialization has a major impact on space flight, in general, and on electric propulsion (EP) by ion thrusters, in particular. Ion thrusters are nowadays used as primary propulsion systems in space. This article describes how these changes related to new space affect various aspects that are important for the development of EP systems. Starting with a historical overview of the development of space flight and of the technology of EP systems, a number of important missions with EP and the underlying technologies are presented. The focus of our discussion is the technology of the radio frequency ion thruster as a prominent member of the gridded ion engine family. Based on this discussion, we give an overview of important research topics such as the search for alternative propellants, the development of reliable neutralizer concepts based on novel insert materials, as well as promising neutralizer-free propulsion concepts. In addition, aspects of thruster modeling and requirements for test facilities are discussed. Furthermore, we address aspects of space electronics with regard to the development of highly efficient electronic components as well as aspects of electromagnetic compatibility and radiation hardness. This article concludes with a presentation of the interaction of EP systems with the spacecraft.

3D ion velocity distribution function measurement in an electric thruster using laser induced fluorescence tomography.

Measuring the full ion velocity distribution function (IVDF) by non-intrusive techniques can improve our understanding of the ionization processes and beam dynamics at work in electric thrusters. In this paper, a Laser-Induced Fluorescence (LIF) tomographic reconstruction technique is applied to the measurement of the IVDF in the plume of a miniature Hall effect thruster. A setup is developed to move the laser axis along two rotation axes around the measurement volume. The fluorescence spectra taken from different viewing angles are combined using a tomographic reconstruction algorithm to build the complete 3D (in phase space) time-averaged distribution function. For the first time, this technique is used in the plume of a miniature Hall effect thruster to measure the full distribution function of the xenon ions. Two examples of reconstructions are provided, in front of the thruster nose-cone and in front of the anode channel. The reconstruction reveals the features of the ion beam, in particular on the thruster axis where a toroidal distribution function is observed. These findings are consistent with the thruster shape and operation. This technique, which can be used with other LIF schemes, could be helpful in revealing the details of the ion production regions and the beam dynamics. Using a more powerful laser source, the current implementation of the technique could be improved to reduce the measurement time and also to reconstruct the temporal evolution of the distribution function.

Effect of nanosecond pulsed electric field on Escherichia coli in water: inactivation and impact on protein changes.

AIMS: This article shows the effect of nanosecond pulsed electric field (nsPEF) on Escherichia coli, which could imply a durable change in protein expressions and then impacted the phenotype of surviving bacteria that might lead to increase pathogenicity. METHODS AND RESULTS: The effects of nsPEF on E. coli viability and membrane permeabilization were investigated. One log10 reduction in bacterial counts was achieved at field strength of 10(7) V m(-1) with a train of 500 successive pulses of 60 × 10(-9) s. Incubation of germs after treatment with propidium iodide showed that membrane permeabilization was reversible. Possible protein changes of surviving bacteria were checked to assess potential phenotypical changes using two-dimensional electrophoresis. In our study, after 40 generations, only UniProt #P39187 was up-regulated with P ≤ 0·05 compared with the control and corresponded to the uncharacterized protein YtfJ. Antibiograms were used to check whether or not the pattern of cultivable bacteria after nsPEF deliveries changed. CONCLUSIONS: The results tend to show that nsPEFs are able to inactivate bacteria and have probably no serious impact in E. coli protein patterns. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: The use of nsPEF is a safe promising new nonthermal method for bacterial inactivation in the food processing and environmental industry.

Glucocorticoids inhibit glucose transport and glutamate uptake in hippocampal astrocytes: implications for glucocorticoid neurotoxicity.

Glucocorticoids (GCs), the adrenal steroid hormones secreted during stress, can damage the hippocampus and impair its capacity to survive coincident neurological insults. This GC endangerment of the hippocampus is energetic in nature, as it can be prevented when neurons are supplemented with additional energy substrates. This energetic endangerment might arise from the ability of GCs to inhibit glucose transport into both hippocampal neurons and astrocytes. The present study explores the GC inhibition in astrocytes. (1) GCs inhibited glucose transport approximately 15-30% in both primary and secondary hippocampal astrocyte cultures. (2) The parameters of inhibition agreed with the mechanisms of GC inhibition of glucose transport in peripheral tissues: A minimum of 4 h of GC exposure were required, and the effect was steroid specific (i.e., it was not triggered by estrogen, progesterone, or testosterone) and tissue specific (i.e., it was not triggered by GCs in cerebellar or cortical cultures). (3) Similar GC treatment caused a decrease in astrocyte survival during hypoglycemia and a decrease in the affinity of glutamate uptake. This latter observation suggests that GCs might impair the ability of astrocytes to aid neurons during times of neurologic crisis (i.e., by impairing their ability to remove damaging glutamate from the synapse).

Glucocorticoids inhibit glucose transport in cultured hippocampal neurons and glia.

A classical action of glucocorticoids (GCs) is to inhibit glucose uptake into various peripheral tissues. Two recent reports suggest that GCs do the same in the brain. Because of the in vivo nature of those studies, it was impossible to determine whether this inhibition occurred at the blood-brain barrier, and/or within neurons and glia themselves. In order to answer this and other mechanistic questions, we examined the effects of GCs on glucose transport in primary brain cultures. We established that uptake of 14C-2-deoxyglucose into hippocampal cultures was linear over a 15-min period and was inhibited by D-glucose and the uptake inhibitor cytochalasin B. Using this system, we found the following. (1) Both corticosterone and dexamethasone inhibited uptake into cultures containing both neurons and glia. (2) The effect was dose-dependent; steroid concentrations in the nanomolar range inhibited uptake from 20 to 33%. The effect was time-dependent, with more than 4 h of steroid exposure needed for inhibition. (3) Non-GC steroids did not inhibit uptake. (4) The GC inhibition seemed to be mediated by the type II (glucocorticoid) corticosteroid receptor. The effect was blocked by a type II, but not a type I (mineralocorticoid) receptor antagonist. Moreover, corticosterone inhibited only at concentrations well above the Kd for the type I receptor. Finally, aldosterone inhibited transport when applied at concentrations that bound heavily to type II receptors. (5) Corticosterone did not inhibit uptake in hypothalamic, cerebellar or cortical cultures, despite the presence of corticosteroid receptors in these cultures. (6) GCs inhibited uptake in both neuron- and glia-enriched hippocampal cultures.

Glucocorticoid endangerment of the hippocampus: tissue, steroid and receptor specificity.

Glucocorticoids (GCs) can damage the hippocampus when exposure is prolonged, as well as impair the capacity of hippocampal neurons to survive various neurological insults. We have recently demonstrated that GCs impair the capacity of primary hippocampal cultures to survive many of these same insults. Using this culture system, we have characterized the features with which the GC corticosterone (CORT) impairs the capacity of these cells to survive the excitotoxin kainic acid. The GC endangerment seems to be mediated by the type II, but not type I corticosteroid receptor. As evidence for type II involvement, endangerment of cells was caused by CORT concentrations in the kilodalton range for the type II receptor, and also by the type II ligand dexamethasone; moreover, the endangerment was blocked by a type II antagonist. In contrast, a type I antagonist was not protective. Cultures contained both type I and II receptors. The effect was GC-specific, as cultures were endangered by CORT, cortisol and dexamethasone, but not by non-GC steroids. GCs did not exacerbate kainic acid damage in cerebeller or hypothalamic cultures, despite the presence of corticosteroid receptors. This agrees with the in vivo data showing that the GC exacerbation of neurological insults is either exclusive to or predominant in the hippocampus.

Glucocorticoid feedback inhibition of adrenocorticotropic hormone secretagogue release. Relationship to corticosteroid receptor occupancy in various limbic sites.

Feedback inhibition of the adrenocortical axis by circulating glucocorticoids occurs at the pituitary and CNS sites. In the CNS, both hypothalamic and suprahypothalamic sites have been implicated as mediators of glucocorticoid feedback activity. In the present experiments, we have attempted to identify specific CNS regions mediating the feedback and to characterize which hypothalamic adrenocorticotropic hormone secretagogues are under glucocorticoid inhibitory control. Adrenalectomized rats were presented with a delayed feedback signal in the form of systemic infusion with corticosterone or dexamethasone. Hypophysialportal concentrations of corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), arginine vasopressin (AVP), and oxytocin (OT) were determined before and during a hypotensive stressor in the face of varying levels of feedback. The rats were then killed, and the extent of total, type I, and type II corticosteroid receptor occupancy in hippocampus, hypothalamus, and amygdala was determined. The following observations were made: (1) increased hippocampal corticosteroid receptor occupancy was associated with suppressed adrenocorticotropic hormone secretagogue concentrations; (2) the major, significant predictor of initial (prehypotensive) concentrations of CRF, AVP, and OT was the extent of occupancy of hippocampal type II receptors, often in combination with occupancy of hippocampal type I or hypothalamic receptors; (3) secretion of CRF induced by hypotension was best predicted by hippocampal type I and type II receptor occupancy (stress-induced OT secretion was best predicted by hippocampal type II and hypothalamic receptor occupancy), and (4) the 'shape' of the hippocampal type II receptor occupancy versus initial AVP concentration curve suggested a nonlinear, threshold type of relationship, implying tight hippocampal regulation of AVP secretion.

Glucocorticoid toxicity in the hippocampus: in vitro demonstration.

Glucocorticoids (GCs) disrupt the energy metabolism of neurons of the hippocampus, and thus leave them more vulnerable to a variety of damaging metabolic insults. In this manner, GCs appear to influence the rate of hippocampal neuron loss during aging in the rat, as well as the severity of hippocampal damage following hypoxia-ischemia or seizure. These GC actions could be secondary to their multitudinous peripheral actions. The present report, however, suggests that GCs directly endanger hippocampal neurons. Glucocorticoid-induced sensitization of neurons to damaging toxins was demonstrated in vitro. The viability of primary cultures of dispersed fetal rat hippocampal neurons was assessed following exposure to a variety of neurotoxins. Prior incubation of the cultures with the rodent-typical GC, corticosterone, significantly decreased neuronal viability in the face of the toxins. Such compounds included the glutaminergic excitotoxin kainic acid, the antimetabolite 3-acetylpyridine and the superoxide radical generator paraquat. As little as 10(-9) M corticosterone could potentiate damage, a concentration equivalent to low basal values in vivo. Higher concentrations of corticosterone could potentiate damage even further; these corticosterone concentrations were not themselves damaging. Administration of glucose increased neuronal viability in the face of the GC/toxin combination, without increasing viability following toxin alone. This suggests that a critical feature of the action of GCs on neurons might be the inhibition of glucose utilization (which is a hallmark of peripheral GC action).

Stress and glucocorticoids in aging.

This article has considered two themes that have permeated the gerontologic literature--namely, that aging is a time of decreased efficiency in responding to stress and that chronic stress can accelerate aspects of aging. Given the restricted framework of considering adrenocortical function (as a component of the stress response) and glucocorticoid over-exposure (as a component of chronic stress), there is considerable evidence for both of these ideas. The capacity of glucocorticoids to damage the rat hippocampus slowly over the life span and the glucocorticoid hypersecretion that seems to ensue during aging as a result of such hippocampal damage support these long-standing ideas. It should be noted that these two components interact with each other--excessive glucocorticoid secretion damages the hippocampus, and hippocampal damage produces excessive glucocorticoid secretion. This dysregulatory cascade appears to be a normal part of aging in the rat. The role of glucocorticoids in triggering programmed aging and death, while quite dramatic, is probably a phylogenetically rare event; it remains to be seen if the dysregulatory cascade of glucocorticoid excess in the rat is of relevance to aging in other species. Numerous published studies suggest that this cascade is not an obligatory aspect of normal human aging; rather, it appears to be a significant factor in the explanation of some features of pathologies associated with human aging.