Determination of femur structural properties by geometric and material variables as a function of body weight in rats. Evidence of a sexual dimorphism.
Femur diaphyses of male and female Wistar rats were densitometrically and biomechanically assayed. The BMD-dependent material properties were better in female than in male bones, but cross-section geometric properties were better in male femurs. As a result, mechanical properties of the integrated diaphyses were better in males, but differences disappeared after statistical adjustment of data to a common body weight. Results evidence a feed-back mechanism locally controlling the strain-dependent bone modelling and the corresponding cross-sectional design as related to bone stiffness, with a set-point adjusted to animal biomass. A sexual dimorphism of bone biomechanics is also described for the species.
Ferretti
J L
JL
Instituto de Investigaciones Metabólicas, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Capozza
R F
RF
Mondelo
N
N
Montuori
E
E
Zanchetta
J R
JR
D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology*; D003720:Densitometry; D004548:Elasticity; D005260:Female; D005269:Femur / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012727:Sex Characteristics