[Serum osteocalcin in children with chronic renal insufficiency]

The research of the bone metabolism has undergone a long evolution which began with the use of radioisotopes in calcium kinetic studies and went through the determination of several humoral parameters like alkaline phosphatase (ALP), hydroxyproline and intact immunoreactive parathyroid hormone (iPTH) and finally to the assay of a new serum and urinary parameters of bone metabolism, like osteocalcine (OC) and procollagen and collagen metabolites. The X-ray study of the skeleton, densitometric techniques, computerized tomography, scintigraphy and NMR are used for visualization of bone changes, but bone biopsy and histomorphometry provide the most precise evaluation [1]. Disorders of bone and mineral metabolism in children with chronic renal failure (CRF) are an almost regular occurrence; so early discovery and treatment of these changes are very important [2]. The aim of this study was to measure the serum OC level in children with CRF and terminal renal failure (TRF), treated with chronic haemodialysis, and to evaluate the significance of OC compared to other humoral parameters of renal osteodistrophy, such as ALP and iPTH.We studied the fasting levels of OC in three different groups of children: group A consisted of 18 patients with TRF; group B consisted of 12 patients at different stages of CRF, and group C consisted of 32 healthy children, all of the approximately same age. Clinical characteristics of the examinded children are presented in Table 1. Of 30 patients, 26 were treated with calcium carbonate and 21 with vitamin D analogues. None were treated with aluminium hydroxide. Additional parameters included serum calcium, phosphate, ALP and body height, while serum concentrations of iPTH and ionized serum calcium were measured only in group A. Serum OC was measured by radioimmunoassay using OSTK PR RIA (CIS), while ELISA-PTH (CIS) radioimmunoassay was used to determine iPTH plasma levels. Statistical analyses were performed using Kolmogorov-Smirnov test to confirm normal distribution, the Pearson and Spearman rank sum test for correlation between variables of interest, while analysis of variance was used to compare the findings.Serum OC levels were significantly different in all groups (p0.01); they were three times higher in group A than in group C. Similar increase was noticed in plasma iPTH, assuming that "normal" uremic iPTH was raised up to threefold above normal range (between 10 and 60 pg/ml) [2]. However, the total serum ALP activity was not sensitive as OC and iPTH, since ALP increases were less as compared to them. OC was age related only in group A (p0.01), with a positive correlation between OC and duration of haemodialysis (p0.05), as well as between OC and serum phosphate (p0.05), but there was no correlation between OC and growth retardation (expressed by SDS), bone age and current therapy for renal osteodistrophy. A direct correlation between OC and ALP was found only in healthy children (p0.01), while in groups A and B it was remarkable, although not statistically significant (p = 0.08) (Graphs 1, 2, 3). In group A, ALP and iPTH were directly correlated (p0.001), but the correlation of OC with iPTH was less significant (p = 0.06). In patients with CRF no correlation was found between glomerular filtration rate and OC.OC is a bone-derived noncollagenous protein of low molecular weight (about 5800 D), containing residues of the vitamin K dependent amino acid gamma-carboxyglutamic acid and is synthesized by osteoblasts and odontoblasts. Calcitriol is a potent stimulator of OC synthesis, acting at the transcriptional level and increasing mRNA severalfold. OC is found mainly in bone, but nanomolar concentrations circulate in the blood. Its serum levels are an expression of the bone formation process and are age related (higher in the neonatal and adolescent period). ABSTRACT TRUNCATED.