Growth and maturation of mandibular bone in otherwise totally immobilized rhesus monkeys

The effects of 14 days of total postcranial body immobilization (in plaster casts) on the mineralization rate and on the maturation of matrix and mineral moieties in the rhesus jaw were studied by tetracycline labeling and by density gradient methods, respectively. Immobilization did not alter the rates of periosteal and endosteal mineralization in the dense cortical bone from the lingular region of the jaw, but it did impair mineralization in osteonal bone. Osteons that continued to show radial closure did so at a normal rate. In the more trabecular cortex (premolar region) in young monkeys (3-6 kg body weight), immobilization impaired bone mineralization, as shown by lower ratios of calcium and inorganic phosphorus to hydroxyproline (Ca/HO-Pr;Pi/HO-Pr), and it reduced the rate at which the newly formed bone and mineral moieties matured. In older monkeys (6-10 kg body weight) immobilization did not alter Ca/HO-Pr and Pi/HO-Pr ratios or impair tissue maturation. These changes tended to normalize within 7 to 14 days after decasting.