Effects of Feed Supplementation on Mineral Composition, Mechanical Properties and Structure in Femurs of Iberian Red Deer Hinds (Cervus elaphus hispanicus)

PLOS ONE, Dec 2019

Few studies in wild animals have assessed changes in mineral profile in long bones and their implications for mechanical properties. We examined the effect of two diets differing in mineral content on the composition and mechanical properties of femora from two groups each with 13 free-ranging red deer hinds. Contents of Ca, P, Mg, K, Na, S, Cu, Fe, Mn, Se, Zn, B and Sr, Young’s modulus of elasticity (E), bending strength and work of fracture were assessed in the proximal part of the diaphysis (PD) and the mid-diaphysis (MD). Whole body measures were also recorded on the hinds. Compared to animals on control diets, those on supplemented diets increased live weight by 6.5 kg and their kidney fat index (KFI), but not carcass weight, body or organ size, femur size or cortical thickness. Supplemental feeding increased Mn content of bone by 23%, Cu by 9% and Zn by 6%. These differences showed a mean fourfold greater content of these minerals in supplemental diet, whereas femora did not reflect a 5.4 times greater content of major minerals (Na and P) in the diet. Lower content of B and Sr in supplemented diet also reduced femur B by 14% and Sr by 5%. There was a subtle effect of diet only on E and none on other mechanical properties. Thus, greater availability of microminerals but not major minerals in the diet is reflected in bone composition even before marked body effects, bone macro-structure or its mechanical properties are affected.

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Effects of Feed Supplementation on Mineral Composition, Mechanical Properties and Structure in Femurs of Iberian Red Deer Hinds (Cervus elaphus hispanicus)

Mechanical Properties and Structure in Femurs of Iberian Red Deer Hinds (Cervus elaphus hispanicus). PLoS ONE 8(6): e65461. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0065461 Effects of Feed Supplementation on Mineral Composition, Mechanical Properties and Structure in Femurs of Iberian Red Deer Hinds (Cervus elaphus hispanicus ) Cesar A. Olguin 0 1 Tomas Landete-Castillejos 0 1 Francisco Ceacero 0 1 Andre s J. Garca 0 1 Laureano Gallego 0 1 Brock Fenton, University of Western Ontario, Canada 0 Funding: CAO was funded by the Postgraduate Scholarship 302198 of the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnolog a (Me xico). FC was supported by a post-doc grant at Czech University of Life Sciences no. 99830/1181/1822 (Czech Republic). This paper has been funded by projects MINECO CGL2011-24811 and AGL2012- 38898. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript 1 1 Animal Science Tech, Applied to Wildlife Management Res.Group, IREC Sec. Albacete, IREC (UCLM-CSIC-JCCM), Campus UCLM, Albacete , Spain , 2 Grupo de Recursos Cinege ticos, Instituto de Desarrollo Regional (IDR), Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM) , Albacete , Spain , 3 Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnolog a Agroforestal y Gen e tica, ETSIA, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM) , Albacete , Spain , 4 Department of Animal Science and Food Processing in Tropics and Subtropics, Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences - Czech University of Life Sciences , Praha- Suchdol , Czech Republic Few studies in wild animals have assessed changes in mineral profile in long bones and their implications for mechanical properties. We examined the effect of two diets differing in mineral content on the composition and mechanical properties of femora from two groups each with 13 free-ranging red deer hinds. Contents of Ca, P, Mg, K, Na, S, Cu, Fe, Mn, Se, Zn, B and Sr, Young's modulus of elasticity (E), bending strength and work of fracture were assessed in the proximal part of the diaphysis (PD) and the mid-diaphysis (MD). Whole body measures were also recorded on the hinds. Compared to animals on control diets, those on supplemented diets increased live weight by 6.5 kg and their kidney fat index (KFI), but not carcass weight, body or organ size, femur size or cortical thickness. Supplemental feeding increased Mn content of bone by 23%, Cu by 9% and Zn by 6%. These differences showed a mean fourfold greater content of these minerals in supplemental diet, whereas femora did not reflect a 5.4 times greater content of major minerals (Na and P) in the diet. Lower content of B and Sr in supplemented diet also reduced femur B by 14% and Sr by 5%. There was a subtle effect of diet only on E and none on other mechanical properties. Thus, greater availability of microminerals but not major minerals in the diet is reflected in bone composition even before marked body effects, bone macro-structure or its mechanical properties are affected. - Bone tissue is the major part of the skeleton and one of its main roles is structural function, such as organ protection, locomotion, muscle activity, load-bearing, and serving as a reserve of minerals [1]. Whole bone mechanical properties depend on factors such as cortical thickness, diameter and quality of material [2]. In long bones, the resistance to flexion increases with cortical thickness [1]. The external diameter of long-bones predicts 55% of variation in resistance to flexion [2]. But bone stiffness also depends on intrinsic material properties (i.e., those independent of size and shape) such as porosity, level of mineralization, crystal size, and properties derived from the organic phase of bone [3,4]. The most widely studied intrinsic mechanical properties include: Youngs modulus of elasticity or stiffness (E), bending strength (force required to break a sample of bone), and work to fracture (the work required to produce such break) [4,5]. Nutrition is a main factor affecting composition of bone. These in turn affect the degree of mineralization and size of bones, both of which influence mechanical performance [5]. In addition to the overall effects of the abundance of food, the mineral profile in diet can influence the mechanical performance of bones. This ranges from the more obvious effect of Ca and P [6], to the more subtle effects of minor minerals (i.e. Mg, Mn, Cu, S, Zn [1,7,8,9]). Several studies have assessed the importance of almost all minor minerals by examining their relative deficiency in single-mineral studies ([10,11] and references therein). However, several recent studies have calculated the relative importance of these minerals by assessing natural variation of both bone mineral composition and mechanical properties in deer antlers. In antlers the mineral profile differed between different parts, reflecting the size and structural quality of the antler and the adequacy of the diet [12,13,14,15,16]. Furthermore, [13,14] management affected mineral trends (...truncated)


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Cesar A. Olguin, Tomas Landete-Castillejos, Francisco Ceacero, Andrés J. García, Laureano Gallego. Effects of Feed Supplementation on Mineral Composition, Mechanical Properties and Structure in Femurs of Iberian Red Deer Hinds (Cervus elaphus hispanicus), PLOS ONE, 2013, Volume 8, Issue 6, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0065461