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Calcium and Phosphorus Homeostasis in Horses
Calcium and Phosphorus Homeostasis in Horses
Imbalance of the dietary Ca:P ratio with procedure cannot always be done routinely
diets high in P and/or low in Ca have been because total (24-hour) urinary collections
shown to induce parathyroid hypertrophy should be obtained.
and hyperplasia accompanied by increased The purpose of the present study was to
bone résorption (1, 2). This metabolic determine if high calcium or high phos
bone disease known as nutritional sec phorus feeding resulted in abnormal re
ondary hyperparathyroidism ( NSH ) occurs sponses to hyper- or hypocalcemia induced
in horses fed high levels of grain without by intravenous Ca or EDTA infusions.
Ca supplementation (2, 3). These responses were further studied and
Because of the nature of compensatory compared in horses which were thyroidec-
adjustments by the metabolic hormones, tomized, as the thyroid hormones are well
the onset of clinical signs is usually slow known to affect Ca homeostasis (4). The
to occur, while anatomical lesions may thyroid glands in the horse are distinctly
already be well established (2). Further separate from the lower parathyroids (2),
more, the efficiency by which the serum Ca which enables us to use this animal in
and P are regulated makes it difficult to studying the effect of complete thyroid re
assess the nutritional status with conven moval without damage to the lower para
tional blood chemistry analysis. Although thyroids or their blood supply.
urinary PO* determinations appear to be
useful in establishing a diagnosis (3), this Received for publication January 2, 1973.
18
. .ÕÀ
CA AND P IN KOKSES 19
TABLE 1
Ingredients and composition of experimental diets
high
IngredientHay, Ca332620251 High
P% P3329202__12 P3446122_510.41.90.2
timothyCora1Soybean 332420251
meal1MolassesLimestoneDicalcium
phosphate
Monosodium phosphate 2
Trace
saltÇa"PCa:PBasal3331202_1
mineralized 10.7O.C1.2High
12.80.64.7HighCa
12.71.12.5High
10.71.40.5Extra
1The soybean meal content of the diets was decreased to 12% when the horses were 12 months old. The corn content was in
TABLE 2
Effect of diet on serum calcium and phosphorus levels and calcium tolerance times
change
serum serum in serum P
treatmentBasal
Dietary animals3 Camg/100 Pmg/100 tolerancemin86.0i afterinfusionma/100
Ca
TABLE 3
Effect of thyroidectomy on serum calcium and phosphorus levels
and calcium tolerance times
serum serum
TreatmentThyroidectomy animalsG Camg/100 Pmg/100
ml12.10iO.33-- ml3.66Ì0.21"
' Ì23.7»
ControlLevel 6Basal 11.40i0.26">0.05Basal 63.2i
8.3"<0.005
4.62i0.31b<0.01Catolerancemin173
of significanceNo.
1Values are mean ±SE.Basal serum Ca and P represent preinjection values. Values with different superscripts in comparable
columns are significantly different at the level indicated. Animals were 2-year-old horses fed a commercial pelleted diet containing
0.6% Ca and 0.57»P.
Vii..
CA AND P IN HORSES 21
Ca diet was significantly lower ( P < 0.01 ) 30i +
than that of the control group. Serum PO4,
however, appeared to reflect the dietary +7C£
level more closely than serum Ca. Animals
fed the high phosphate diet demonstrated
significantly higher serum PO4 concentra +10
tions than the control group ( P < 0.01 ). Ó.".S
TABLE 4
Effect of thyroxine replacement on Ca tolerance times in thyroidectomized horses
No. Ca Mean change in serum P
Treatment animals tolerance after Ca infusion
ml+0.25
ThyroidectomizedThyroidectomized ±24.2«.»73.0± ±0.03«+0.20±0.04»>0.05
wk)Thyroidectomized
plus thyroxine (1 7.8b88.5±
wk)Level
plus thyroxine (4 8.5b<0.005maflOO
of significance333min161
1Values represent mean ±SE.Values with different superscripts in comparable columns are significantly different at the level
indicated. Animals were two mature horses and one pony fed a commercial, pelleted diet containing 0.6% Ca and 0.5% P. Note
that the Ca tolerance time of the thyroidectomized animals is not signißcantlydifferent from the 2-year-old thyroidectomized horses
(table 3). Also, note that the tolerance times with thyroxine present were not significantly different from the control group (table 3).
22 ARGENZIO, LOWE, HINTZ AND SCHRYVER
TABLE 5
Calcium and phosphorus balance in ponies fed a high phosphorus diet
Pony
no.19 (kg)223 Urine1Ca4.31 Fèces1 absorptionCa-0.16 levelsCa11.1serum
Ca20.3 Ga4.89
4.47 0.50 ±0.34
219Intake1
46Weight 4.26P 20.0 4.20P 4.66 0.47P6.59
6.80Apparent1
0.06P15.4 -0.41P8.82
15.3Retained1Ca-0.6611.8±0.24P6.88±0.32
8.54Mean1 9.80±0.32
1g/day/100 kg. »
mg/100 ml.
ÇAAND P IN HORSES 23
Fig. 4 Biopsy from frontal bone of pony 46 after 4 weeks on high PO«diet (HOLE,X 120).
Bone is being dissolved by large multinucleated osteoclasts. Resorption cavity being replaced
by poorly collagenized fibrous tissue.
ARGENZIO, LOWE, HINTZ AND SCHRYVER
tion. The horses fed the high P:Ca diet portedly increases calcitonin secretion (9)
recovered with significantly higher Ca val and in some cases results in increased bone
ues than the control horses ( P < 0.005 ). density (10). Short-term kinetic studies
The two horses and pony which had been using 47Ca in horses have shown increased
thyroidectomized were also subjected to deposition of Ca in bone when the animals
EDTA infusion studies before and after 2 were fed high levels of Ca (11), whereas
weeks of thyroxine replacement. These high phosphorus feeding resulted in an in
data, shown in figure 8, demonstrate that creased turnover of bone Ca (12). Long-
thyroidectomy prevented a recovery of term studies have demonstrated only slight
normocalcemia during the 6-hour period. changes in body composition in horses fed
They also show that in the presence of high levels of calcium.3 The difference be
thyroxine, the impaired recovery was com tween the short-term kinetics trial and the
pletely reversed (P < 0.005). long-term body composition trial may be
clue to either errors inherent in balance
DISCUSSION trials or adaptive mechanisms in the horse,
Nutritional secondary hyperparathyroid- or both. Nevertheless, it would be antici
ism (NSH) has been attributed to high pated that Ca and P homeostasis, as dem
phosphorus feeding which secondarily re onstrated by induction of a hyper- or hypo-
sults in a lowering of the serum Ca (2). calcemia, would be at least temporarily up
This effect then stimulates the parathyroid set in response to the dietary treatment.
gland to increase serum Ca by résorptionof «H. F. Schryver, H. F. Hintz. J. B. Lowe, R. L.
the bone and to increase renal PO4 excre Hlntz, R. B. Harper and J. T. Reid. Mineral composi
tion of the whole body, liver and bone of young
tion (4). Conversely, hypercalcemia re horses. Submitted to J. Nutr.
CA AND P IN HORSES 25
Figure 9 shows a linear increase in the phosphate group. Similar findings were ob
Ca tolerance time, when the data were ex tained in dogs treated with thyroxine (13)
pressed as a function of the P:Ca dietary and it was shown that thyroxine substan
ratio. The response suggests that the P:Ca tially increased the turnover of bone Ca.
ratio of the diet was directly related to the
impairment of Ca homeostasis. High Ca £DMInfusion
feeding did not appear to significantly af
fect the Ca tolerance time; however, exami
nation of figure 9 shows that extrapolation
of the curve to the zero ordinate gives a
minimum tolerance time of 60 minutes.
This minimum value may be the result of
the time the injected Ca is being distrib
uted throughout the exchangeable Ca pool.
For this reason, increased rates of Ca clear
ance or decreased bone Ca removal, which
may have been due to a hypersécrétion of
calcitonin, would not be reflected in the
present analysis. 30 6O 90 120 ISO ISO" 2OO 280 360
Figure 9 also shows the impaired re TIME (min)
sponse due to thyroidectomy. However,
Fig. 7 Serum Ca response to EDTA infusion
thyroxine treatment completely reversed in horses fed the high PO»or the control diet.
the impaired Ca clearance, suggesting that Serum Ca values taken between 2 and 6 hours
an absence or deficiency of calcitonin was show significantly higher (P < 0.005) values for
animals fed the high PO«diet compared with
not responsible for the abnormal response those fed the control diet. Vertical fines repre
in either the thyroidectomized or the high sent SE.
26 ARGENZIO, LOWE, HINTZ AND SCHRYVER
COM Infusion
Fig. 8 Serum Ca response to EDTA infusion in Tx horses and Tx horses with replaced
thyroxine (Tx + T4). Thyroxine treatment significantly increased the ability to recover normo-
calcemia (P < 0.005). Vertical Unes represent SE.