Composition of bone

Schoeninger, M.J. and DeNiro, M.J. 1984 Nitrogen and carbon isotopic composition of bone collagen from marine and terrestrial animals. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 48 625-639. 

Recognition among bone-chemistry researchers that strontium enters bone in proportion to dietary levels has resulted in widely accepted yet erroneous inferences about the relationships among various elements in bone and past diet. One such inference is that more of any element in the diet translates directly to more of that element in bone. If an element is not biogenically incorporated within bone, or if biological levels are metabolically controlled, then that element will not reflect diet. A second erroneous inference is that strontium can be used to measure the dietary plant/meat ratio. Sr/Ca ratios in meat are generally lower than those of plants, but meat is also low in calcium and hence has little effect on the composition of bone. Plants, on the other hand, contribute substantially to bone composition. Variations in the strontium levels of bone thus more likely reflect differential consumption of plants rather than trophic position. Although efforts to determine plant/meat ratios from strontium and to draw dietary inferences from elements other than strontium and barium have not been successful, this failure has been due to inappropriate expectations, not to a failure of bone strontium to reflect diet. 

This paper will address three subjects a) carbon isotopic composition of bone carbonate b) the possible role of hpid metabolism in determining frae-tionation between bone carbonate and collagen and its apparent trophic signature and c) concepts of routing of carbon isotopes in the body, especially from protein foods to collagen. The discussion will be limited to carbon isotope ratios C C/ C), although we appreciate that N/ N ratios, which are also very useful in determining trophic levels and somces of protein, present similar biochemical problems. 

Heaton, T.H.E., VogelJ.C, Von la Chevallerie, G. and Collett, G. 1986 Climatic influence on the isotopic composition of bone nitrogen. Nature 322 822-823. 

Schoeninger, M.J. and DeNiro, M.J. 1984 Nitrogen and carbon isotopic composition of bone collagen from marine and terrestrial animals. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 48 625-639. Schuette, S. A., Hegsted, M., Zemel, B. and Linkswiler, H.M. 1981 Renal acid, urinary cyclic AMP, and hydroxyproline excretion as affected by level of protein, sulfur amino acids and phosphorus intake. Journal of Nutrition 111 2106-2116. 

Cormie, A.B., Schwartz, H.P., Gray, J. (1994b). Determination of the hydrogen isotopic composition of bone collagen and correction for hydrogen exchange. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Vol. 58, pp. 365-375. 

Nelson, B. K., DeNiro, M. J., Schoeninger, M. J., De Paolo, D. J., and Hare, P. E. (1986). Effects of diagenesis on strontium, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen concentrations and isotopic composition of bone. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 50 1941-1949. 

The question as to whether there are significant inter-individual differences in normal animals or human beings with respect to the inorganic composition of bone has apparently never been seriously studied. 

In a recent study involving the inorganic analysis of human ribs from 10 subjects,66 it has been found that the calcium content varied from 24.12 to 26.91 per cent, the phosphorus from 10.75 to 12.11 per cent, and the carbonate as carbon dioxide varied from 2.81 to 3.95 per cent. Inter-individual differences of this magnitude would seem to exist since the inorganic composition of bone is probably relatively stable and not subject to short-term fluctuations. 

Sfeter, Max, Who discovered the composition of bone-earth. Scheele or... 

Calcium in Plant and Animal Nutrition. Calcium is essential to plant and animal life and is present in adequate amounts in many soils (78). The outer green leaves of cabbages and certain other leafy vegetables contain much more calicum than the inner white ones (79, 80, 81). Large amounts of it are present in the human body. The composition of bone suggests that it must be closely related to the apatite series of minerals, which have the formula nCa3(PO.t )2-CaC03, in which n has a value... 

Biological issues (i) Mg bioavailabihty, metabolism and physiology . (ii) Cell proliferation and differentiation , (iii) Animal husbandry. (iv) Magnesium in blood . (v) Genetic regulation , (vi) Mineral phase composition of bone and teeth . (vii) Brain and nervous system , (viii) Renal handling of magnesium . 

Trueman, C., Chenery, C., Eberth, D. A., and Spiro, B. (2003). Diagenetic effects on the oxygen isotope composition of bones of dinosaurs and other vertebrates recovered from terrestrial and marine sediments. /. Geol. Soc. 160, 895-901. 

Bones are the elements of the internal skeletons of vertebrate animals. They provide mechanical strength and structural support for the organism. The composition of bone varies among different species, bone type, and age. Generally, bones consist of a mixture of inorganics (minerals), water, and an organic matrix. 

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