Developmental factors influencing bone strength in precocial mammals: An infant pig model.

ABSTRACT: Most vertebrates are precocial in locomotion, able to walk and run soon after birth. Precociality requires a bony skeleton of sufficient strength to resist mechanical loading during early locomotor efforts. The aim of this study was to use an animal model-the preterm infant pig-to investigate some of the proximate factors that might determine variation in bone strength in precocial animals. Based on the prior literature, we tested the null predictions that skeletal integrity would be significantly compromised by truncated gestation (i.e., preterm birth) and reduced body mass at birth. We generated a suite of both morphometric measures (tissue mineral density and cross-sectional geometry) and performance-related metrics (ability to resist loading, deformation, and fracture during three-poin

SUBMITTER: Magrini SH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10273336 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature