Short-term Growth: Evidence for Chaotic Series of Mini Growth Spurts in Rat Growth

doi:10.1016/S0031-9384(98)00023-7

Physiology & Behavior

Volume 64, Issue 1, April 1998, Pages 7-13

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-9384(98)00023-7 Get rights and content

Abstract

HERMANUSSEN, M., M. A. ROL DE LAMA, J. A. F.-TRESGUERRES, L. GRASEDYCK, J. BURMEISTER. Short-term growth: Evidence for chaotic series of mini growth spurts in rat growth. Physiol Behav 64(1) 7–13, 1998. Five thousand and eighteen quadruplet daily measurements of lower-leg length of 62 female and 81 male rats, were performed in order to characterize short-term growth. Within a short time, growth proceeds irregularly and consists of multiple incremental bursts (mini growth spurts) with no evidence for strict periodic behavior. Mini growth spurts are S-shaped incremental patterns that can be characterized by double-exponential functions (Gompertz’s functions). Gompertz’s functions are S-shaped, and can be defined by three parameters that identify amplitude, inflection point (age at peak growth velocity), and slope. The latter not only refers to the rapidity of each incremental burst, but also alludes to the duration that one incremental burst needs for completion. In regard to these characteristics, mini growth spurts differ significantly between the sexes in rats. Mean amplitude of mini growth spurts was 2153 μm (SD 1034 μm) in female rats and 2958 μm (SD 1614 μm) in male rats. Peak growth velocity of mini growth spurts appeared lower in male rats than in female rats. Female rats showed mean γ of -1.23 (SD 0.72), whereas male rats showed mean γ of -0.96 (SD 0.72). Partial growth hormone deficiency led to a modification in rats that was reversed when exogenous growth hormone was administered. Mean intervals between subsequent mini growth spurts ranged between 4.2 and 4.6 days, but the large variation of these intervals (SD between 1.6 and 2.3 days) and the fact that neither spurt–spurt interval nor spurt amplitude appeared predictable, strongly suggest chaotic behavior of mini growth spurts.

Section snippets

Materials and Methods

Five thousand and eighteen quadruplet lower-leg length measurements (consisting each of four independent determinations, i.e., a total of 20,072 determinations) were performed in 143 rats (81 males, 62 females), as described earlier 17, 18, at strictly 24-h intervals. The animals were housed in groups of 3 to 5 animals, depending on their size, in plastic (macrolon) cages at a 12 h:12 h light-dark cycle (lights on at 0800 h) at 21°C ± 2°C and 55% humidity. The age of the animals ranged between

Results

Fig. 1 exemplifies characteristic patterns of short-term growth in one male and one female rat, with multiple incremental bursts separated by periods of decelerated growth velocity. The figure demonstrates means of quadruplet measurements, and best-fit Gompertz’s functions. Similarly, all 143 individual series of lower-leg length measurements were modeled by the above algorithm. In the 143 series, 941 S-shaped local structures were mathematically identified and characterized by parameters of

Discussion

Nonlinearity of short-term growth has been described by several authors although different opinions exist about the pattern at which growth progresses. Greco and coworkers performed daily weight measurements in very low birth weight babies, and found pulsatile weight increases approximately once every ten days 8, 9. We measured human lower-leg length at weekly intervals, and originally reported on repetitive series of growth spurts once every 30 to 55 days [13]. Measurements of body stature at

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auxologie and by FISS number 94/0389.

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Original ArticlesShort-term Growth: Evidence for Chaotic Series of Mini Growth Spurts in Rat Growth

Abstract

Section snippets

Materials and Methods

Results

Discussion

Acknowledgements

Lancet

Physiol. Behav.

Daily measurements of the heights of two children from June 1984 to May 1985

Ann. Hum. Biol.

Specific deplation of immunoreactive GHRH by monosodium glutamate in rat median eminence

Nature

The measurement of short-term growth. Addendum

A non-linear model of growth in the first year of life

Acta Paediatr.

Knemometry and the assessment of growth in premature babies

Arch. Dis. Child.

Episodic growth in prematures infants

Humanbiologia Budapestinensis.

On the nature of the function expressive of the law of human mortality, and a new mode of determining the value of live contingencies

Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B. Biol. Sci.

La crescita ad impulsiUn nuovo modello di interpretazione della dinamica dell’ accrescimento

Pulsatile weight increases in very low birthweight babies appropriate for gestational age

Arch. Dis. Child.

Patterns of human growth

Science

Knemometry in childhoodaccuracy and standardization of a new technique of lower-leg length measurement

Ann. Hum. Biol.

Periodical changes of short term growth velocity (“mini growth spurts”) in human growth

Ann. Hum. Biol.

The measurement of short-term growth

A non-invasive technique for the accurate measurement of leg length in animals

Growth Dev. Aging.

No evidence for saltation in human growth

Ann. Hum. Biol.

Differential catch-up in body weight and bone growth after short term starvation in rats

Growth Regul.

Mini-Knemometryan accurate technique for lower-leg length measurements in early childhood

Ann. Hum. Biol.

Original Articles
Short-term Growth: Evidence for Chaotic Series of Mini Growth Spurts in Rat Growth