Bozzini, Clarisa, Graciela M. Champin, Rosa M. Alippi, and Carlos E. Bozzini. Static biomechanics in bone from growing rats exposed chronically to simulated high altitudes. High Alt Med Biol 14:367-374, 2013.-Biomechanical behavior of bone is related to the amount (bone mass) and its architectural distribution, as well as the mechanical quality of bone material. This investigation reports the effects of exposure to different simulated high altitudes (SHA) (1850, 2900, 4100, and 5450 m) on femur biomechanical properties in female growing rats exposed to SHA (22-23 h/d) between the 32°and the 74°days of life. The ex vivo right femur was mechanically tested in three-point bending. The left femur was ashed at 600°C and the ash weight obtained. Final body weight and structural (loads at yielding and fracture, stiffness, and elastic energy absorption) and architectural (diaphyseal cross-sectional area, cortical area, and cross-sectional moment of inertia) were negatively affected in the animals exposed to the two highest SHA. Material properties of the mineralized tissue (Young's modulus and limit elastic stress) and the degree of mineralization were unaffected. In conclusion, hypoxic bone is weaker than normoxic one because of its smaller bone mass, which appear to have been negatively influenced by SHA in relation to its effects on overall body mass.

No abstract

Both stiffness and strength of bones are thought to be controlled by the "bone mechanostat". Its natural stimuli would be the strains of bone tissue (sensed by osteocytes) that are induced by both gravitational forces (body weight) and contraction of regional muscles. Body weight and muscle mass increase with age. Biomechanical performance of load-bearing bones must adapt to these growth-induced changes. Hypophysectomy in the rat slows the rate of body growth. With time, a great difference in body size is established between a hypophysectomized rat and its age-matched control, which makes it difficult to establish the real effect of pituitary ablation on bone biomechanics. The purpose of the present investigation was to compare mid-shaft femoral mechanical properties between hypophysectomized and weight-matched normal rats, which will show similar sizes and thus will be exposed to similar habitual loads. Two groups of 10 female rats each (H and C) were established. H rats were 12-month-old that had been hypophysectomized 11 months before. C rats were 2.5-month-old normals. Right femur mechanical properties were tested in 3-point bending. Structural (load-bearing capacity and stiffness), geometric (cross-sectional area, cortical sectional area, and moment of inertia), and material (modulus of elasticity and maximum elastic stress) properties were evaluated. The left femur was ashed for calcium content. Comparisons between parameters were performed by the Student's t test. Average body weight, body length, femur weight, femur length, and gastrocnemius weight were not significantly different between H and C rats. Calcium content in ashes was significantly higher in H than in C rats. Cross-sectional area, medullary area, and cross-sectional moment of inertia were higher in C rats, whereas cortical area did not differ between groups. Structural properties (diaphyseal stiffness, elastic limit, and load at fracture) were about four times higher in hypophysectomized rats, as were the bone material stiffness or Young's modulus and the maximal elastic stress (about 7×). The femur obtained from a middle-aged H rat was stronger and stiffer than the femur obtained from a young-adult C rat, both specimens showing similar size and bone mass and almost equal geometric properties. The higher than normal structural properties shown by the hypophysectomized femur were entirely due to changes in the intrinsic properties of the bone; it was thus stronger at the tissue level. The change of the femoral bone tissue was associated with a high mineral content and an unusual high modulus of elasticity and was probably due to a diminished bone and collagen turnover.

This study investigated the effect of a soft diet, given to growing rats, on the biomechanical behaviour of the mandible. Female rats, 30 d of age, received an ordinary diet in the form of pellets (i.e. hard-diet group), and another group of female rats received the same diet, but ground and mixed with water, forming a paste (i.e. soft-diet group). The experiment lasted 8 wk. Body-weight and body-length gains were not affected by the consistency of the diet. No significant differences were found between groups concerning the length, height, and area of the right hemimandible. Mechanical properties of the right hemimandibles were determined using a three-point bending test, in which bones were stressed on a perpendicular line immediately posterior to the posterior face of the third molar. Structural properties (load at yielding, load at fracture, structural stiffness, and elastic energy absorption) and geometric properties of the fracture section (cross-sectional area, cortical area, and moment of inertia) were significantly lower in hemimandibles of rats of the soft-diet group than in those of rats of the hard-diet group. Material properties of the mandibular bone tissue (elastic modulus and maximal elastic stress), which were estimated through appropriate equations, did not differ between groups. It was concluded that the reduced physical consistency of the diet, possibly associated with a reduced masticatory load, diminished the skeletal load-bearing capacity of the mandible in growing rats. This observed reduction in the bone structural behaviour was attributed to changes occurring at the level of bone mass and its geometrical properties because intrinsic properties of the bone material tissue were unaffected.

Both body weight and somatic muscle forces are the main "mechanical factors" in the determination of bone strength in the "weight-bearing bones". However, other "non-mechanical factors", such as dietary proteins, also exist, which modulate bone physiology. This study was designed to explore the mechanical behavior of the femur in post-weaning female rats stunted by feeding on cornstarch. Forty female rats aged 30 days were fed freely with one of the two diets: control (CD) and experimental (ED). CD was the standard rat laboratory diet, whereas ED was cornstarch supplemented with vitamins and minerals. Control (C) and experimental (E) animals were divided into 4 groups: C40 and E40 rats were given CD and ED, respectively, for 40 days; C105 were fed the CD for 105 days; and E40-105 were given the ED for 40 days and then the CD for the remaining experimental period (65 days). Growth of rats was assessed following Parks' model. The biomechanical structural properties of the right femur middiaphysis were estimated using a 3-point bending test. The geometric properties of both the entire bone and the cross-section were determined. The left femur was ashed and both the Ca mass and the Ca concentration were determined. Rats fed the ED failed to achieve normal weight gain. Complete catch-up was observed at the end of a 65 day period of nutritional rehabilitation. The femoral weight and length were negatively affected by the ED, as were the mid-diaphyseal cross-sectional area, the mineralized cortical area, and the cross-sectional moment of inertia. All of these parameters showed incomplete catch-up. The structural bone mechanical properties indicative of strength and stiffness were seriously negatively affected. Intrinsic material bone properties, as assessed by the modulus of elasticity and the maximal elastic stress, were within normal values. In summary, the experimental bone was weaker than the control and structurally incompetent. The considered bone was smaller than the control one, showing a significant reduction in the cross-sectional area and the moment of inertia. However, material properties as well as the ash fraction and Ca concentration were similar in E and C bones. Therefore, E bone is weaker than the C one because of its smaller bone mass, which appears to have been negatively influenced by the ED in relation to its effects on overall body mass.