PUBERTAL WEIGHT-GAIN IN FEMALE RHESUS MACAQUES

In order to describe the timing and extent of accelerated pubertal wei ght gain in female rhesus, we examined a large colony data base consis ting of over 10,000 weight records for animals between 1.5 and 3.0 yea rs of age (menarche occurs at about 2.6 years). Average colony weights were determined by week of age from information on age at weighing. C ross-sectional analyses with linear regression demonstrated an acceler ation in weight increase from 196 to 231 weeks (28-33 months) when col ony weights increased 381 g/12 weeks as opposed to an average of 193 a nd 203 g, respectively, during the preceding and succeeding age interv als of the same length. Longitudinal analyses (n = 428) indicated that maximum individual growth velocity averaged 499 +/- 18 g/12 weeks and occurred at 119 +/- 5.6 weeks (29.7 +/- 0.2 months) of age. Nonlinear modeling with the Gompertz function indicated that decelerating growt h rates seen at earlier ages were not characteristic of the period of accelerated pubertal growth. (C) 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.