Mineral Uptake by the Femora of Older Female X-Linked Hypophosphatemic (HYP) Mice but not Older Male HYP Mice

Abstract

X-linked hypophosphatemic (Hyp) mice are a model of human sex-linked vitamin D-resistant rickets. Young adult Hyp mice are characterized by osteomalacia and decreased bone mineral content. However, older heterozygous Hyp female mice increase in bone mineral content with age so that by one year of age the bone mass/mm femoral length equals or exceeds normal females. To test for the occurrence of this mineral accretion in Hyp male mice and in homozygous Hyp female mice, femora from all 3 Hyp genotypes as well as normal male and female mice were analyzed at various ages from one to 52 weeks of age. Compared to normal mice, all three Hyp genotypes were depressed in bone ash, femoral length, and ash/length ratio at 13 weeks of age. After that age the femora of both heterozygous and homozygous Hyp females showed a slow mineral accretion and, by 52 weeks of age, a normal ash/length ratio. However, the femora of Hyp males, as well as those of normal males, failed to increase in bone mineral content or ash/length ratio after 13 weeks of age. The differences between male and female Hyp mice could not be explained by differences in the plasma levels of calcium, phosphate, or alkaline phosphatase. Increased bone mineral content in older Hyp mice was seen in both heterozygous and homozygous females but not in hemizygous males. Thus, the basis for this increase is not incomplete dominance of the Hyp gene in females nor the Lyon hypothesis. The accretion of mineral in older female Hyp mice despite lifelong reduced plasma phosphate levels suggests that there are factors other than phosphate that also regulate mineral accretion in this bone disease.