Journal article
Hibernating bears as a model for preventing disuse osteoporosis
Journal of biomechanics, Vol.39(8), pp.1480-1488
2006
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/104014
PMID: 15975583
Abstract
The hibernating bear is an excellent model for disuse osteoporosis in humans because it is a naturally occurring large animal model. Furthermore, bears and humans have similar lower limb skeletal morphology, and bears walk plantigrade like humans. Black bears (
Ursus americanus) may not develop disuse osteoporosis during long periods of disuse (i.e. hibernation) because they maintain osteoblastic bone formation during hibernation. As a consequence, bone volume, mineral content, porosity, and strength are not adversely affected by annual periods of disuse. In fact, cortical bone bending strength has been shown to increase with age in hibernating black bears without a significant change in porosity. Other animals require remobilization periods 2–3 times longer than the immobilization period to recover the bone lost during disuse. Our findings support the hypothesis that black bears, which hibernate for as long as 5–7 months annually, have evolved biological mechanisms to mitigate the adverse effects of disuse on bone porosity and strength.
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Details
- Title
- Hibernating bears as a model for preventing disuse osteoporosis
- Creators
- Seth W Donahue - Department of Biomedical Engineering, Michigan Technological University, 309 Minerals and Materials Engineering Building, 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931, USAMeghan E McGee - Department of Biomedical Engineering, Michigan Technological University, 309 Minerals and Materials Engineering Building, 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931, USAKristin B Harvey - Department of Mechanical Engineering—Engineering Mechanics, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI 49931, USAMichael R Vaughan - US Geological Survey, Virginia Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0321, USACharles T Robbins - Department of Zoology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-4236, USA
- Publication Details
- Journal of biomechanics, Vol.39(8), pp.1480-1488
- Academic Unit
- Environment, School of the (CAHNRS)
- Publisher
- Elsevier Ltd
- Identifiers
- 99900546643801842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article