title: Response of the longitudinal growth of cranium and long bones to early weaning in the rabbit.
abstract: To study the problem whether the growth rates of the cranium and of long bones are different from one another, in 13 age groups of 5 rabbits each three distances of the skull (SSO-SL, SSO-P and N-NSA) and the length of the femur, tibia and calcaneus were measured. Following the early weaning of the rabbits (41/2 weeks), the increase of all measurements was strongly delayed for about one week. Thereafter, during a two weeks' period a typical catch-up growth was observed. From these results the conclusion was drawn that the growth rates of cranium and long bones do not differ from each other, and that a temporary deficiency of food intake affects intramembranous bone growth and cartilaginous growth in a similar way.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight; D002111:Calcaneus / Q000254:growth & development*; D005269:Femur / Q000254:growth & development*; D011817:Rabbits; D012886:Skull / Q000254:growth & development*; D013977:Tibia / Q000254:growth & development*; D013997:Time Factors; D014886:Weaning