Measurement of the cross-linking compounds pyridinoline and deoxypyridinoline in urine as an index of collagen degradation in patients with surgical menopause

Abstract

Surgical menopause, a disorder of ovariectomized women, is characterized by a wide spectrum of bone turnover abnormalities. Conventional biochemical markers of bone resorption lack specificity and do not reflect bone resorption assessed from histology. We measured the urinary excretion of the pyridinoline crosslinks pyridinoline (Pyr) and deoxypyridinoline (D-Pyr), a specific marker of bone and cartilage collagen degradation, in 10 women with bone loss due to surgical menopause and in 10 nonmenopausal women. Urinary pyridinoline crosslinks correlated with collagen degradation and reabsorption, as assessed by the mean values of Pyr and D-Pyr in surgical patients, are significantly higher compared with those seen in the controls. These data indicate that Pyr and D-Pyr are sensitive markers of bone turnover in women with surgical menopause and that they can be considered a good index for determining the degree of collagen degradation.