J. Jo^sey: Bone Formation and Resorption in Bone Disorders 69 



Acknozc'ledgements 

 These studies were supported in part by AEC Contract AT(30-1) 3174, USPHS 

 grants AM-5211-05, AM-06404-03, USPHS Clinical Research Center Grant FR-41 

 and a National Institutes of Medical Science Career Research Development Award 

 (6-K3-GM-22, 676-OlAl). 



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 FisKE, C. H., and Y. Subbarow: The colorimctric determination of phosphorus. J. biol 



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Bone Formation and Resorption in Bone Disorders 



J. JOWSEY 

 Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. U.S.A. 



The recognition of the majority of disorders of skeletal bone depends largely 

 upon their radiological appearance. The various pathological processes may then be 

 further differentiated by alteration in such biochemical parameters as the plasma 

 calcium and phosphorus levels. 



The gross changes demonstrated by x-ray examination represent a change in the 

 balance between formation and resorption of tissue but do not measure either of 

 these two processes independently; it was in order to define the relative contribution 

 of formation and resorption to bone structure that the method of quantitative micro- 

 radiography of bone was developed and applied to the study of skeletal disorders. 



This brief report compares bone turnover, that is, formation and resorption, in a 

 number of normal individuals with values obtained from subjects suffering from the 

 more common disorders of the skeleton. 



Method 



The technique of quantitative microradiography (Jowsey, 1960; Jowsey et ai, 

 1965) depends on the analysis of formation and resorption of bone seen on a micro- 

 x-ray of a thin slice of calcified bone taken from a biopsy. These two processes are 

 recognised by the distribution of mineral seen in the microradiograph. Extensive 

 correlative studies (Jowsey et ai, 1965) have demonstrated the validity of this 



