Effect of rotopositioning on the growth and maturation of mandibular bone in immobilized rhesus monkeys.

As part of an ongoing effort to mimic the hypokinesia and hypogravity of spaceflight, the effects of 14 d immobilization and rotopositioning on mandibular bone osteon growth (= radial rate of closure) was assessed in 12 juvenile Rhesus monkeys by tetracycline labeling. The monkeys had been restrained in a supine position and rotated 908 every 30 min through a full 3608 arc for 14 d. Osteon growth was also assessed after the immobilized/rotopositioned animals had been permitted to recover in metabolism cages for periods of 28 and 56 d. The closure rates of osteons in the cortex of the inferior border of the mandible were not abnormal during immobilization/rotopositioning or during recovery. The regression line plots yielded slopes of: Controls = 0.946-1.000; Immobilized/Rotopositioned = 1.045; 28 d Recovery = 0.833; 56 d Recovery = 0.829. Microradiographs indicated a normal distribution of osteons of different mineral density: lowly (28%), moderately (53%), and highly mineralized (18%). Bone porosity values also remain within the normal range (18.3 6 4.1%). These results suggested that 14 d immobilization/rotopositioning did not effect abnormal changes in the rates of bone formation and mineralization in the mandibular cortex of the juvenile Rhesus monkey.