Serum osteocalcin or bone Gla-protein, a biochemical marker for bone metabolism in horses: differences in serum levels with age.
Year: 1990
Type: article
Abstract: Levels of alkaline phosphatase and osteocalcin or bone Gla-protein, a new marker of bone metabolism, were analyzed in blood samples of 50 clinically normal female Standardbred horses between four months and twenty years of age. Samples were collected in the morning before exercise. Serum osteocalcin was measured by radioimmunoassay using bovine antibodies. There was a significant inverse correlation between alkaline phosphatase, osteocalcin and the age of the animals up to 48 months. The decrease in osteocalcin levels in serum was very marked during the first 30 months of life. The mean osteocalcin concentration was respectively 47.3, 35.7 and 6.7 ng/mL for animals less than one year, between 1.5 and 2.5 years of age and older than 3.5 years. Alkaline phosphatase serum activity was higher in foals less than one year of age (means = 856 U/L) than in the two older groups (meansII = 339, meansIII = 351 U/L). We believe that osteocalcin is a useful parameter for the evaluation of bone metabolism in growing animals and in adults and is probably more specific than alkaline phosphatase.
Source: Europe PMC (PubMed Central)
Authors: O M Lepage, M Marcoux, A Tremblay
Institution: Université de Montréal
Language: English
Subfield: Equine
Field: Veterinary
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W334980918