Morphometry of uremic rat growth plate.
Growth retardation is a common manifestation of chronic renal failure in children. To gain insight into the alterations of bone growth plate of chronic uremia, a morphometric study of tibia proximal growth plate was performed in 5/6 nephrectomized rats (NX, n = 4) and sham animals (SHAM, n = 4). Toluidine blue stained sagittal sections (5-6 microns) from ethanol-fixed and methylmethacrylate-embedded tibias were analyzed. Widths (X +/- SEM) of growth plate (GPW), proliferative (PZW) and hypertrophic zones (HZW) were calculated. Results were as follows: [table: see text] Growth plate modifications in uremia are rather due to alterations in the hypertrophic than proliferative zone. This is consistent with an abnormal metabolism of condrocytes as shown by a lower mean area of extracellular matrix (EMA) per cell in the hypertrophic zone of the NX rats (0.23 vs. 0.58 microns 2).
Cobo
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Department of Pediatrics, Hospital Central de Asturias, Spain.
Carbajo
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Santos
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García
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López
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JM
D000818:Animals; D002455:Cell Division; D002648:Child; D006128:Growth; D006132:Growth Plate / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D006984:Hypertrophy; D008297:Male; D009392:Nephrectomy; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012016:Reference Values; D013977:Tibia; D014511:Uremia / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015430:Weight Gain