Bone mineral in the castrated rat model of osteopenia.

The effects of castration on cortical bone structure and chemistry were studied in male Wistar rats of two age groups, 8 and 24 months. Some rats were castrated and some were sham operated (control) in each group. All animals were killed after 4 months.

Bone maturation and quality of bone material in rats flown on the space shuttle 'Spacelab-3 Mission'.

The maturation profiles of calcium, phosphorus, magnesium and hydroxyproline in the femoral trabecular and cortical bone and in the thoracic vertebrae from male rats flown on the 7-day 'Spacelab-3 Mission' were measured by density gradient analysis. In rats exposed to a spaceflight environment, profiles of the matrix and mineral moieties were shifted toward both the lower (vertebrae) and higher density fractions (femurs and vertebrae), patterns indicating a decrease in bone growth/turnover. X-Ray diffraction of vertebrae indicated that spaceflight is associated with a decrease in apatite crystal size/perfection.

The changes in quality of mandibular bone mineral in otherwise totally immobilized rhesus monkeys.

The status of bone mineral and osteocalcin in the young adult Rhesus monkey mandible was assessed following a 14-day period of postcranial immobilization, and after 7- and 28-day recovery periods. Specimens of cortical bone taken from the compact bone at the inferior border of the jaws were ground in liquid nitrogen and sieved to a particular size below 20 micron. The bone powder was then fractionated in a bromoform-toluene density gradient to determine its mineralization profile (Ca, P, CO3, and osteocalcin), and X-ray diffraction was used to determine apatite crystal size in some fractions.

Inhibition of hydroxyapatite formation in collagen gels by chondroitin sulphate.

Crystal growth in native collagen gels has been used to determine the role of extracellular matrix macromolecules in biological calcification phenomena. In this system, type I collagen gels containing sodium phosphate and buffered at pH 7.4 are overlayed with a solution containing CaCl2.

Failure to detect an amorphous calcium-phosphate solid phase in bone mineral: a radial distribution function study.

X-ray diffraction radial distribution function analysis was used to determine if a significant amount of an amorphous solid phase of calcium phosphate exists in bone, and if so, whether the amount varies as a function of age and maturation. Unfractionated cortical bone from embryonic and posthatch chicks of various ages and a low-density fraction of embryonic bone were studied. No evidence was found for the presence of an amorphous solid phase of calcium phosphate in any of the samples studied, including the recently deposited bone mineral of the low density fraction of embryonic bone.

Failure to detect crystalline brushite in embryonic chick and bovine bone by X-ray diffraction.

We have reexamined the question of whether brushite (CaHPO4 X 2H2O) occurs in embryonic bone. On the basis of the experiments reported here, and a reexamination of data previously obtained in this laboratory, we have concluded that crystalline brushite as a separate phase identifiable by X-ray diffraction does not occur in embryonic chick or bovine bone. Crystalline brushite previously identified in this laboratory in the less-mineralized fractions of embryonic chick bone was apparently formed artifactually during the fractionation process, possibly from preexisting domains of HPO4(-2) groups in a noncrystalline brushite-like configuration.

Milk of calcium: a structural study.

Milk of calcium is an unusual radiologic entity which covers a wide variety of stones of various compositions. They only have in common the fact that in vivo stone movement is indicated by radiologic pictures taken at different postures of the patient. Despite over 100 cases reported in the literature, no comprehensive structural and chemical analyses have been published.

Calcergy and calciphylaxis: timed appearance of gamma-carboxyglutamic acid and osteocalcin in mineral deposits.

gamma-Carboxyglutamate (Gla), a calcium binding amino acid whose synthesis depends on vitamin K, has been found in association with pathologic calcifications. It is of interest therefore to examine the role of Gla-containing proteins in the formation of nonskeletal mineralized tissues. Calcergy and calciphylaxis, experimentally induced models of pathologic calcification, offer the opportunity to study the formation of mineral deposits in the absence of an endochondral sequence of bone formation.

X-ray diffraction studies of the crystallinity of bone mineral in newly synthesized and density fractionated bone.

The crystallinity of bone mineral at different stages of maturation has been measured by quantitative X-ray diffraction methods. Crystallinity measurements were made on tibial mid-diaphyses from 17-day embryonic chicks, newly-formed periosteal bone from embryonic chicks, and density-fractionated bone from post-hatch chickens from 5 weeks to 2 years of age. For a given animal age and degree of mineralization, crystallinity increases with animal age, indicating that changes in bone mineral occur even after mineralization is complete or nearly complete.

Collagen type II differs from type I in native molecular packing.

Native molecular packing of types I and II collagens were compared by low-angle X-ray diffraction. Fibers from human intervertebral disc that contained different proportions of types I and II collagens were studied by X-ray diffraction, and were then analyzed biochemically to measure the constituent collagen species. Other cartilages, containing exclusively type I or type II collagen, were also examined.