Effect of moderate undernutrition on the functional components of the axial skeleton.

ORDEN AB., OYHENART EE CESANI ROSSI MF., ZUCCHI M., MUÑE MC., VILLANUEVA M., RODRÍGUEZ RR., PONS ER., PUCCIARELLI HM.

Buffalo, New York, USA

Congreso; Annual Meeting American Association of Physical Anthropologists; 2002

American Association of Physical Anthropologists

The aims of the present study are to asses if moderate undernutrition affects the functional components of the axial skeleton in growing rats, and if so, to evaluate its intensity on each component. Two experimental groups were followed up: (1) Control: rats fed on stock diet ad libitum, and (2) Undernourished: rats fed on the 75% of the daily food eaten by controls of the same age and sex. All the animals were x-rayed every 10 days, from 21 to 100 days old. Cranial, cervical, thoracic, and lumbar-sacral lengths were measured on each radiograph. Data were processed by repeated analysis of variance, and Bonferroni post hoc tests. The quadratic equation (y= a+bx+cx2) explained at least 99% of the age, and age*sex variation in all the segments. Age*treatment and age*treatment*sex interactions were explained by high order equations. The post hoc comparisons showed that control were greater than the undernourished. These results indicated that moderate undernutrition modified the mostly linear growth patterns of the axial skeleton. There were not sex differences. Undernutrition affected most the lumbar-sacral (18%), followed by the cervical (14%), thoracic (10%), and craniofacial (7%) skeleton. This findings show that growth in different regions of the axial skeleton has a particular susceptibility to nutritional stress.