The Rate of Bone Mineralization in Birds Is Directly Related to Alkaline Phosphatase Activity
| Autor: | S. James Reynolds, Vallo Tilgar, Priit Kilgas, Anu Viitak |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2008 |
| Předmět: |
musculoskeletal diseases
Gene isoform medicine.medical_specialty Physiology Vertebrate Animals Biology Biochemistry Mineralization (biology) Calcification Physiologic stomatognathic system Internal medicine Blood plasma medicine Animals Passeriformes Bone Development musculoskeletal neural and ocular physiology Alkaline Phosphatase musculoskeletal system medicine.disease Enzyme assay Skull Endocrinology medicine.anatomical_structure biology.protein Alkaline phosphatase Animal Science and Zoology Calcification |
| Zdroj: | Physiological and Biochemical Zoology. 81:106-111 |
| ISSN: | 1537-5293 1522-2152 |
| DOI: | 10.1086/523305 |
| Popis: | Recent studies have suggested that a biochemical marker, plasma alkaline phosphatase (ALP), can be used as a general indicator of skeletal development in vertebrate animals. In birds, age-related variation in ALP activity, presumably due to bone formation processes, has been demonstrated, but to date, a direct connection between bone mineralization and enzyme activity has been elusive. In this study, we show that the activity of a bone isoform of ALP (bone ALP) is closely related to the overall rate of skeletal mineralization in nestlings of a small passerine bird, the great tit (Parus major L). Moreover, bone ALP activity predicted the rate of mineralization of leg and wing bones but not that of the skull. Liver isoform of ALP was only marginally related to the overall rate of skeletal mineralization, while no association with the mineralization of long bones was found. We conclude that bone ALP activity in the blood plasma is a reliable biomarker for skeletal mineralization in birds. This marker enables detection of subtle developmental differences between chicks of similar structural size, potentially facilitating the prediction of offspring mid- and long-term survival. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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