Strontium in bone

Kavanagh, M. 1979 Strontium in Bone as a Dietary Indicator. Master s thesis. University of Wisconsin, Madison. 

Shimmins J, Smith DA. 1972. Discrimination between calcium and strontium in bone uptake and loss. In International Conference on Strontium Metabolism, ed. Second international conference on strontium metabolism, Glasgow and Strontian, 16-19 August, 1972. TID 4500 59th ed. Health and Safety Laboratory / U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, 389-396. 

Marie PJ, Atmnarm P, Boivin G, Rey C. (2001) Mechanisms of action and therapeutic potential of strontium in bone. Caleif Tiss Inti 69 121-129... 

Water organisms (from plankton to fish) can concentrate certain radionuclides from their environment. Concentration effects were observed for the following elements cobalt in mollusks ruthenium in water plants zinc, cadmium, and iron in fish bowels calcium and strontium in bones and shells, etc. 

In water and beverages strontium can be measured directly, but food and biological materials require a pretreatment with hydrochloric acid (3 M) and lanthanum chloride [91]. In urine strontium can be determined after dry-ashing and addition of lanthanum [91] or directly after 1 2 dilution with an acidic lanthanum chloride solution [92], The determination of strontium in bone requires special attention because the bone matrix contains high amounts of calcium and phosphate, which can easily interfere with the determination of strontium. Razmilic described a method to isolate strontium from the calcium phosphate matrix by ion exchange chromatography. The pretreated samples then can be analysed by both emission and absorption spectrophotometry measurements without chemical, ionization, or bulk interferences [93,94]. 

Strontium (Sr) acts much like calcium (Ca) because both are Group 2A (2) elements. The body wiU accumulate radioactive strontium in bones in the same way that it incorporates calcium. Radioactive strontium is harmful to children because the radiation it produces causes more damage in ceUs that are dividing rapidly. 

A number of trace elements were analyzed in food and in bone mineral. Trace element levels in foods varied considerably in some cases between raw and eooked foods. Most notably, iron was absorbed from the cooking pot and from water, particularly in foods such as barley and beef. Strontium values, which are higher in raw vegetables than in uncooked beef, homogenized in the stew such that cooked meat and vegetables, were indistinguishable. 

Figure 1.5. Trace element concentrations of zinc, strontium and rubidium in bone.

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. 

Alexander, G. V., Nusbaum, R.E. and MaeDonald, N.S. 1956 The relative retention of strontium and calcium in bone Tissae. Journal of Biological Chemistry 218 911-919. 

Toots, H. and Voorhies, M.R. 1965 Strontium in fossil bones and the reconstmction of food chains. Science 149 854-855. 

Schoeninger, M.J. (1985). Trophic level effects on 15N/14N and 13G/12C ratios in bone collagen and strontium levels in bone mineral. Journal of Human Evolution, Vol.l4, pp. 515-525. 

C22-0116. Strontium-90 is a dangerous fission product because it passes into human bodies and lodges in bones. It... 

Leggett RW, Eckerman KF, Williams LR. 1982. Strontium-90 in bone A case study in age-dependent dosimetric modeling. Health Phys 43 3 07-322. 

Sillen, A. and Sealy, J.C. (1995). Diagenesis of strontium in fossil bone a reconsideration of Nelson et al. (1986). Journal of Archaeological Science 22 313-320. 

Verbeeck (66) found that the solubility behavior could be explained by assuming ideality his value for the logarithm of the solubility product of pure strontiumhydroxyapatite was -52.3. Hence, the value of D is 18 in favour of Ca incorporation and against Sr incorporation in mixed precipitates. This seems to be in agreement with discrimination against strontium in the bones and teeth of living organisms. 

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