A radioautographic study of the effect of age on the protein-synthetic and bone-deposition activity in interparietal sutures of male white mice.
Groups of male white mice were killed at 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 weeks of age 2 h after intraperitoneal injection with [3H]-proline. Radioautographic analysis of sections of the interparietal suture demonstrated significantly greater protein-synthetic activity in the para-osseous zones relative to the middle zone (p less than 0.01) and a plateau of lower protein-synthetic activity by 7-8 weeks of age (p less than 0.05). Groups of mice were selected at 4, 6, 8 and 10 weeks of age. Each mouse was injected intraperitoneally with [3H]-proline three times at one-week intervals. Sutural growth rate was determined from incremental lines revealed by radioautographs prepared from serial paraffin sections of the interparietal suture and demonstrated a stabilization of growth by 8 weeks of age. This, together with the grain counting data, suggested that a mouse of 7-8 weeks would provide a suitable model for experimental studies in sutural remodelling response without masking effects by normal growth.
D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D001345:Autoradiography; D001846:Bone Development; D003393:Cranial Sutures / Q000254:growth & development*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D010294:Parietal Bone / Q000254:growth & development*; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D012886:Skull / Q000254:growth & development*