Crystalline changes in avian bone related to the reproductive cycle. II. Percent crystallinity changes.

Abstract

This is an X-ray diffraction study of the changes in the proportional amounts of the amorphous and apatitic calcium phosphate phases in pigeon femur during the egg-laying cycle. The medullary portion of pigeon femur is completely resorbed in the reproductive cycle. In this process the portion of bone which is higher in amorphous calcium phosphate is resorbed before the crystal-rich portion. Thus, bone with a higher amorphous content is more metabolically active than more crystalline bone. Finally, medullary bone which can be produced in male pigeons by estrogen treatment was found by X-ray diffraction to resemble female medullary bone at the beginning of the reproductive cycle.