Strontium and calcium metabolism in metabolis bone diseases

Journal Article · Wed Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1960 · Journal of Clinical Investigation

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI104109· OSTI ID:4156545

Dow, Elias C.; Stanbury, John B.

The distribution and excretion of Sr⁸⁵ and Ca⁴⁵ administered simultaneously and intravenously were studied in patients with thyroid and parathyroid disorders, osteoporosis, and Paget's disease. In all cases and at all times the body retention of Ca⁴⁵ was more than Sr⁸⁵ retention by a factor of 1.1 to 5.7. Differential renal clearance of the two isotopes accounted for 1.9 to 8.1 times more Sr⁸⁵ than Ca⁴⁵ in the urine. The amounts of each isotope in the feces were sizable, generally equal, and varied little in the different diseases studied, except in Paget' s disease. Calcium pools and compartment sizes as determined by either isotope proved to be sensitive indices of skeletal function. The largest values were found in Paget's disease and thyrotoxicosis and the lowest in myxedema. One patient with thyroid cancer metastatic to bone showed no evidence of increased calcium turnover by any of the criteria employed. A patient with hyperparathyroidism but no clinical evidence of bone disease showed no evidence of abnormal calcium or strontium dynamics. In one patient with Paget's disease cortisone failed to suppress completely the activity of the disease as measured by Ca⁴⁵ dynamics. There was no unusual pattern of labeled isotope excretion in patients with osteoporosis. Prolonged estrogen therapy in one patient with osteoporosis of the postmenopausal type effected no change in skeletal kinetics as measured by the metabolism of Ca⁴⁵ or Sr⁸⁵ but did effect a change in the serum to urine Ca⁴⁵ specific activity ratio. The observation that Ca⁴⁵ specific activities were consistently greater in serum than in urine and the variation of serum to urine ratios in different disease states is discussed as representing either a true phenomenon or a systematic analytical error. Strontium-85 qualitatively parallels Ca⁴⁵ as an index of skeletal function in metabolic bone diseases.

• Research Organization: Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA (United States); Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• NSA Number: NSA-14-015503
• OSTI ID: 4156545
• Journal Information: Journal of Clinical Investigation, Vol. 39, Issue 6; Other Information: Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-60; ISSN 0021-9738
• Country of Publication: Country unknown/Code not available
• Language: English

Related Subjects

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE
BLOOD SERUM
BLOOD VESSELS
BONES
CALCIUM 45
CANCER
CORTISONE
DISEASES
DISTRIBUTION
ESTROGENS
FECES
GLANDS
HORMONES
INTESTINE
KIDNEYS
LABELLED COMPOUNDS
MAN
MEDICINE
METABOLISM
METASTASES
OSTEOPOROSIS
PARATHYROIDS
RADIOISOTOPES
STEROIDS
STRONTIUM 85
THYROID
TRACER TECHNIQUES
URINE
VARIATIONS