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Does age matter?—Efficiency of mechanical food break down in Tupaia belangeri at different ages

The relationship of food comminution and individual age in Tupaia belangeri is investigated. It is hypothesized that with increasing age the performance of the molar dentition decreases due to progressive tooth wear. While this relationship is well-documented for herbivores, age-related test series...

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Autores principales: Schwermann, Achim H., Schultz, Julia A., Fuchs, Eberhard, Leha, Andreas, Hummel, Jürgen, Kullmer, Ottmar, Steuer, Patrick, Martin, Thomas
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10411959/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37428732
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0274439
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author Schwermann, Achim H.
Schultz, Julia A.
Fuchs, Eberhard
Leha, Andreas
Hummel, Jürgen
Kullmer, Ottmar
Steuer, Patrick
Martin, Thomas
author_facet Schwermann, Achim H.
Schultz, Julia A.
Fuchs, Eberhard
Leha, Andreas
Hummel, Jürgen
Kullmer, Ottmar
Steuer, Patrick
Martin, Thomas
author_sort Schwermann, Achim H.
collection PubMed
description The relationship of food comminution and individual age in Tupaia belangeri is investigated. It is hypothesized that with increasing age the performance of the molar dentition decreases due to progressive tooth wear. While this relationship is well-documented for herbivores, age-related test series are largely lacking for insectivorous mammals. 15 individuals of Tupaia belangeri were fed exclusively with mealworms, and their faeces were analyzed for the number and size of chitin particles. The exoskeleton of a mealworm is resistant to digestive fluids in the gastrointestinal tract, and the size of individual chitin particles indicates the effectiveness of mechanical comminution that occurs in the oral cavity during mastication. It is hypothesized that a more precise occlusion of the dentition results in smaller particle size. Although individuals of all ages (juvenile, adult, and senile) were able to effectively process mealworms with their dentition prior to digestion, a larger area of very large chitin particles (98% quantile of all particles in senile animals as compared to in the same quantile in adults) in the feces of senile animals was detected. Even though the particle size of indigestible material is irrelevant for the digestive process, these findings either document somatic senescence in the functionality of the teeth, or alternatively a change in chewing behaviour with age.
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spelling pubmed-104119592023-08-10 Does age matter?—Efficiency of mechanical food break down in Tupaia belangeri at different ages Schwermann, Achim H. Schultz, Julia A. Fuchs, Eberhard Leha, Andreas Hummel, Jürgen Kullmer, Ottmar Steuer, Patrick Martin, Thomas PLoS One Research Article The relationship of food comminution and individual age in Tupaia belangeri is investigated. It is hypothesized that with increasing age the performance of the molar dentition decreases due to progressive tooth wear. While this relationship is well-documented for herbivores, age-related test series are largely lacking for insectivorous mammals. 15 individuals of Tupaia belangeri were fed exclusively with mealworms, and their faeces were analyzed for the number and size of chitin particles. The exoskeleton of a mealworm is resistant to digestive fluids in the gastrointestinal tract, and the size of individual chitin particles indicates the effectiveness of mechanical comminution that occurs in the oral cavity during mastication. It is hypothesized that a more precise occlusion of the dentition results in smaller particle size. Although individuals of all ages (juvenile, adult, and senile) were able to effectively process mealworms with their dentition prior to digestion, a larger area of very large chitin particles (98% quantile of all particles in senile animals as compared to in the same quantile in adults) in the feces of senile animals was detected. Even though the particle size of indigestible material is irrelevant for the digestive process, these findings either document somatic senescence in the functionality of the teeth, or alternatively a change in chewing behaviour with age. Public Library of Science 2023-07-10 /pmc/articles/PMC10411959/ /pubmed/37428732 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0274439 Text en © 2023 Schwermann et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Schwermann, Achim H.
Schultz, Julia A.
Fuchs, Eberhard
Leha, Andreas
Hummel, Jürgen
Kullmer, Ottmar
Steuer, Patrick
Martin, Thomas
Does age matter?—Efficiency of mechanical food break down in Tupaia belangeri at different ages
title Does age matter?—Efficiency of mechanical food break down in Tupaia belangeri at different ages
title_full Does age matter?—Efficiency of mechanical food break down in Tupaia belangeri at different ages
title_fullStr Does age matter?—Efficiency of mechanical food break down in Tupaia belangeri at different ages
title_full_unstemmed Does age matter?—Efficiency of mechanical food break down in Tupaia belangeri at different ages
title_short Does age matter?—Efficiency of mechanical food break down in Tupaia belangeri at different ages
title_sort does age matter?—efficiency of mechanical food break down in tupaia belangeri at different ages
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10411959/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37428732
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0274439
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