Skip to main content
ARS Home » Plains Area » Houston, Texas » Children's Nutrition Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #67674

Title: USE OF STABLE ISOTOPIC TRACERS IN STUDIES OF WHOLE BODY CALCIUM METABOLISM

Author
item YERGEY, ALFRED - NATIONAL INSTS OF HEALTH
item VIEIRA, NANCY - NATIONAL INSTS OF HEALTH
item Abrams, Steven
item MARINI, JOAN - NATIONAL INSTS OF HEALTH
item GOANS, RONALD - NATIONAL INSTS OF HEALTH

Submitted to: Connective Tissue Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/23/1994
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: We have developed methods to study the absorption of calcium taken in through the diet and how this calcium is distributed in the body.We used stable isotopes of calcium to trace these processes in healthy children (controls) and children with osteogenesis imperfecta, or OI, an inherited condition in which the bones are brittle and subject to fractures. There were no differences in calcium absorption between groups, but there were differences in the total exchangeable pool of calcium, which is the pool accessible to exchange with the tracer. This information helps us understand and explain differences between the way calcium is used and distributed throughout the bodies of children with OI compared to healthy children, which can lead to better therapies.

Technical Abstract: Stable isotopic tracers of calcium have been used to characterize the absorption of dietary calcium and the subsequent distribution of this element through the body. For a group of 7 healthy children, ages 4-14, and 7 children with osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), types I, III and IV ages 6-17, there were no detectable differences in the franctional absorption of dietary calcium, 0.29 +/- 0.11 and 0.28 +/- 0.16, respectively. The total exchangeable pool of calcium was found to be 161 +/- 52 mg/kg for the healthy children and 95 +/- 29 mg/kg for the 3 children with Type I OI, 250 +/- 75 mg/kg for the 3 children with Type III OI and 216 mg/kg for the child with Type IV OI.