The effects of simulated increases in body weight from birth on bone robusticity of limb bones of rats.

Groups of newborn rats were each subjected to a specific 10% simulated increase in body weight, ranging from 1.1G to 2.0G, to study changes in bone robusticity. (In this paper, "G" is the acceleration due to gravity.) Constant centrifugation was used. At 90 days of age, the rats were killed and the humerus, radius, ulna, femur, and tibia were removed, weighed, and measured. Bone robusticity was calculated using the ponderal index: bone length/3 square root bone weight. Tukey's Multiple Range Test was used. The data suggest that, for both males and females, bone robusticity is increased with simulated increases in body weight.