Assessment of age-related dynamics of mineral metabolism in tigers

This article presents the results of a biochemical study of mineral metabolism parameters in tigers over time in relation to age. The following biochemical parameters were studied: calcium, inorganic phosphorus, calcium to phosphorus ratio, and alkaline phosphatase activity. The data were obtained from 31 animals aged 3 months to 18 years and were then divided into five age groups. The studies showed the presence of pronounced trends in all studied parameters. The most significant changes were found in alkaline phosphatase activity: the indicator significantly decreases from the youngest age group up to the age of seven, while the difference between the maximum and minimum values is 12.7 times. A progressive decrease in calcium and inorganic phosphorus was also found from the early period of life to the age range of 3-6 years, which is accompanied by a tendency to an increase in the calcium to phosphorus ratio. In the age dynamics of the older age period, a progressive increase in the level of inorganic phosphorus is observed in tigers. At the same time, the trends of calcium, alkaline phosphatase and calcium-phosphorus ratio indicators change, but the nature of these changes for all the parameters studied in middle and old age is generally multidirectional. Based on the results obtained, three stages of mineral metabolism are determined in tigers, corresponding to different age periods the period of bone tissue formation the first three years of life, the stabilization period from 3 to 12 years and the period of destabilization of mineral metabolism over 12 years.