Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/2440/111767
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Type: Journal article
Title: Femoral bone perfusion through the nutrient foramen during growth and locomotor development of western grey kangaroos (Macropus fuliginosus)
Author: Hu, Q.
Nelson, T.
Snelling, E.
Seymour, R.
Citation: The Journal of Experimental Biology, 2018; 221(4):1-6
Publisher: Company of Biologists
Issue Date: 2018
ISSN: 0022-0949
1477-9145
Statement of
Responsibility: 
Qiaohui Hu, Thomas J. Nelson, Edward P. Snelling and Roger S. Seymour
Abstract: The nutrient artery passes through the nutrient foramen on the shaft of the femur and supplies more than half of the total blood flow to the bone. Assuming that the size of the nutrient foramen correlates with the size of the nutrient artery, an index of blood flow rate (Qi) can be calculated from nutrient foramen dimensions. Interspecific Qi is proportional to locomotor activity levels in adult mammals, birds and reptiles. However, no studies have yet estimated intraspecific Qi to test for the effects of growth and locomotor development on bone blood flow requirements. In this study, we used micro-CT and medical CT scanning to measure femoral dimensions and foramen radius to calculate femoral Qi during the in-pouch and post-pouch life stages of western grey kangaroos (Macropus fuliginosus) weighing 5.7 g to 70.5 kg and representing a 12,350-fold range in body mass. A biphasic scaling relationship between Qi and body mass was observed (breakpoint at ca. 1-5 kg body mass right before permanent pouch exit), with a steep exponent of 0.96±0.09 (95% CI) during the in-pouch life stage and a statistically independent exponent of -0.59±0.90 during the post-pouch life stage. In-pouch joeys showed Qi values that were 50-100 times higher than those of adult diprotodont marsupials of the same body mass, but gradually converged with them as post-pouch adults. Bone modelling during growth appears to be the main determinant of femoral bone blood flow during in-pouch development, whereas bone remodelling for micro-fracture repair due to locomotion gradually becomes the main determinant when kangaroos leave the pouch and become more active.
Keywords: Allometry
Blood flow
Growth
Locomotion
Nutrient foramen
Ontogeny
Rights: © 2018. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.
DOI: 10.1242/jeb.168625
Grant ID: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP120102081
Published version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.168625
Appears in Collections:Aurora harvest 3
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