VOLUNTARY INTAKE OF CALCIUM AND PHOSPHORUS IN PARTIALLY NEPHRECTOMIZED AND PARATHYROIDECTOMIZED RATS

Abstract

THE RECENT EXPERIMENTS of Richter and Eckert (1, 2) indicate that the metabolism of calcium and phosphorus may be regulated in part by voluntary selection of these materials from the diet. In parathyroidectomized rats an increased amount of calcium and a decreased amount of phosphorus was consumed. This compensatory mechanism was sufficient to prevent or arrest manifestations of tetany. Further, this altered voluntary intake could be reversed by subsequent transplantation of parathyroid tissue. From these results it would seem reasonable to expect that in other conditions in which calciumand phosphorus metabolism is disturbed, alterations in their voluntary intake might be demonstrable. One such condition is chronic renal insufficiency. The evidence that such a disturbance may occur in this condition is as follows. (a)In renal insufficiency phosphorus excretion through the kidney is decreased, while its excretion in the intestine in the form of calcium phosphate is increased (3).