Bone Dynamics & Calcium Homeostasis Flashcards
What percentage of the body’s calcium is stored in bone (and teeth)? Where is the remainder found?
- 99%!
- of the remaining 1%, 0.9% is in the cells and 0.1% is in the ECF (50% of the calcium in the ECF is bound to plasma proteins or phosphate and is therefore not biologically active)
What is the normal level of serum calcium? What level of hypocalcemia is lethal? What classifies as hypercalcemia? At what serum level does disseminated calcium-phosphate precipitation occur?
- normal level: 9.4 mg/100 mL (2.4 mmol/L)
- lethal hypocalcemia: 4mg/100 mL or less
- hypercalcemia: anything greater than 10.5 mg/100 mL
- precipitation occurs at a level of 17 mg/100 mL or higher
How does the body rapidly adjust calcium levels? How about for more long-term adjustments?
- short term/rapid: calcium transfer between ECF and bone fluid, excretion via kidneys
- long term/slower: bone remodeling, calcium gut absorption
95% of bone is made up of _________. What else is also present?
- 95% is type I collagen
- proteoglycans and non-collagenous proteins are also present
What is the sub-unit of bone called? What does each contain?
- the osteon (mineralized osteoid)
- each contains a Haversian canal (arteries, veins, and nerves pass through)
Which cells give rise to osteoblasts? To osteoclasts?
- osteoblasts come from mesenchymal stem cells
- osteoclasts come from hematopoietic stem cells
What are the two mature forms of an osteoblast?
- osteocyte: active; trapped inside the bone matrix
- bone-lining cells: inactive; lining the osteons
Bone is constantly being turned over and remodeled; how often is a completely new skeleton generated?
- every 10 years
OPG, RANK, RANKL, CSF
- osteoclast activation requires RANKL binding to RANK (a receptor for the NF-kB family) as well as CSF (colony stimulating factor; important for differentiation into osteoclast from hematopoietic stem cell)
- OPG (osteoprotegerin) is a decoy receptor to RANKL, binding to it and preventing it from activating RANK (and therefore preventing osteoclast activation)
- OPG, RANKL, and CSF are secreted by osteoblasts
Which 5 organs measure plasma calcium levels?
- parathyroid, thyroid, kidneys, GIT, and brain
What are the three calcium controlling hormones?
- parathyroid hormone (PTH), active vitamin D, and calcitonin
Parathyroid Hormone (PTH); general affects, rapid actions, chronic actions.
- released when serum calcium levels are low
- increases calcium levels, decreases phosphate levels, and increases vitamin D activation in the kidneys
- rapid: activates ATP-driven Ca2+ pumps to pump calcium from the bone fluid into the osteocyte and into the plasma; increases calcium reabsorption and decreases phosphate reabsorption in the kidneys
- chronic: stimulates osteoblasts to increase RANKL secretion to increase osteocyte activation
- (at low levels, PTH is anabolic; at high levels, PTH is catabolic)
Vitamin D
- increases absorption of both calcium and phosphate in the GIT, increases reabsorption of both in the kidneys
- vit D is needed for transcription of calbindin (a calcium binding protein)
Calcitonin
- released when calcium levels are too high (by C cells of the thyroid gland)
- opposes to effects of PTH: decreases osteoclast activity and increases calcium and phosphate excretion in the kidneys
Name three major bone turnover markers for resportion and three for formation.
- resorption: collagen I breakdown products, osteoclast markers, protease (cathepsin K)
- formation: collagen I pre-cursors, osteoblast activity, alkaline phosphatase (ALP, the bone specific isoform)