Measurements of body surface area and volume in male Japanese White rabbits using a computed tomography scanner: comparison with male New Zealand White rabbits.
The body surface area (BSA) of animals has generally been estimated by multiplying the k value by the measured body weight (BW) raised to the power of 2/3 (Meeh's formula). In mathematical terms, the assumption that the density and body shape of animals are essentially constant means that the BSA is proportional to BW2/3. In this study, we measured the BSA and volume of 50 male Japanese White rabbits (JW) at 10 to 54 weeks of age using a computed tomography scanner, then calculated the k value, density, and sphericity. The variations in these parameters were then analyzed in relation to growth. The obtained results indicated that the k value was negatively correlated to BW, and that this negative correlation was mainly due to the variation in density. Based on the regression analysis, we propose the following linear regression equation for calculating the k value in male JW at 10-54 weeks of age: the k value = 14.602 - 0.959 × BW [kg]. The calculated values ranged from 10.9 to 12.7 (working BW range: 1.98 to 3.81 kg). The k value of male New Zealand White rabbits (NZW) determined in our previous study and that of male JW in the present study were compared. It was revealed that the k value of male JW was larger than that of male NZW. We concluded that different breeds of rabbits express different k values.
['Itoh|Tadashi|T|', 'Kawabe|Mifumi|M|', 'Nagase|Takahiko|T|', 'Endo|Katsumi|K|', 'Miyoshi|Masafumi|M|', 'Miyahara|Kazuro|K|']
D000818:Animals D049628:Body Size D001830:Body Surface Area D008297:Male D011817:Rabbits D013045:Species Specificity D015898:Tomography Scanners, X-Ray Computed D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
body surface area Japanese White rabbit rabbit computed tomography CT scanner