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Bone growth and composition in weanling and mature rats exposed to chronic centrifugationThe primary objective of the study is to determine the effect of continuous exposure to hypergravity on the development and composition of weight-bearing bone. The experimental results are seen to suggest that many, if not all, of the changes observed in bone growth and composition derive from the retarded growth rate of the centrifuged rats. Both centrifuged weanling and mature rats exhibit a significant reduction in femur length and mass. The changes in femur size are more apparent in the weanlings since they are exposed to hypergravity during their most rapid phase of skeletal development. In addition to a slower growth rate, the body mass of the mature and weanling animals is reduced even further by the depletion of body fat. The rapid loss of body fat observed in rats and mice during centrifugation, it is found, can produce a prompt and significant rise in relative femur mass after two weeks of exposure. After adaptation to centrifugation, however, relative femur mass is similar to that of controls at four and eight weeks. At 18 weeks, the centrifuged rats again exhibit an increase in relative femur mass. It is thought that this increase in relative femur mass may be generated by the difference in fat deposition between the 1-G controls and the high-G rats.
Document ID
19820057134
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Keil, L. C.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Evans, J. W.
(California, University Davis, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 10, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1982
Publication Information
Publication: p. S-53
Subject Category
Life Sciences (General)
Accession Number
82A40669
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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