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To further investigate the relationship between oophorectomy (OF) and mineral bone loss, 15 women who underwent total hysterectomy and bilateral oophorectomy were studied for 12 months after surgery. Mineralometric and metabolic data were obtained before and after 3, 6, and 12 months. The women lost bone mineral content (measured by single photon absorptiometry) at the same rate they lost cortical and trabecular bone, suggesting that bone loss after OF is a generalized phenomenon. Our data also show that an increase in bone resorption takes place only in the first period after OF; the persistency of a negative bone balance up to 12 months, accompanied by a reduction of osteocalcin serum levels, may be dependent on a reduced bone formation, probably due to osteoblastic insufficiency.