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Perinatal stress and increased fluctuating asymmetry of dental calcium in the laboratory rat
Author(s) -
Siegel Michael I.,
Mooney Mark P.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.1330730213
Subject(s) - calcium , fluctuating asymmetry , weaning , asymmetry , dentition , calcium metabolism , stress (linguistics) , medicine , endocrinology , dentistry , chemistry , physiology , biology , physics , zoology , linguistics , philosophy , quantum mechanics
Abstract Recent studies have consistently reported an increased magnitude of fluctuating dental, long bone, and membranous bone asymmetry as a function of perinatal stress. The present study was designed to test the hypothesis that increases in the fluctuating asymmetry of calcium may be related to the metric changes in these calcium‐dependent systems. Pregnant rats were exposed to noise stress from conception through weaning. Bilateral lower first molars were extracted from the neonates, and calcium levels were determined using a standard atomic absorption technique. Levels of fluctuating asymmetry of calcium were found to be significantly increased (p < .01) in the audiogenic noise‐stressed group compared to unstressed, normal controls. These results follow the pattern reported earlier for metric analysis of the dentition and support a stress‐induced calcium‐transport‐disruption hypothesis.