Osteocalcin during the reproductive cycle in normal and diabetic rats

Abstract

ABSTRACT Concentrations of osteocalcin were measured in plasma and bone of normal and diabetic rats during the reproductive cycle and compared with plasma 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25-(OH)2D3) concentrations. The age-dependence of osteocalcin was also examined. Plasma concentrations of osteocalcin levels were low but detectable in 21-day-old fetuses (3·7 ± 0·3 nmol/l); osteocalcin concentrations were highest in weaning rats (104 ± 9 nmol/l) and decreased thereafter. In adult rats, plasma concentrations of both osteocalcin and 1,25-(OH)2D3 increased during the last days of normal pregnancy, and even more so in rats fed a diet low in calcium and phosphate. After an early post-partum decline, osteocalcin concentrations in plasma remained at non-pregnant levels in lactating rats fed a high calcium/phosphate diet while their 1,25-(OH)2D3 concentrations were higher than in non-pregnant rats; however, lactating rats fed a low calcium/phosphate diet showed increasing osteocalcin concentrations. In spontaneously diabetic BB rats, plasma osteocalcin concentrations were severely decreased compared with those in non-diabetic rats, more than would have been expected from their decreased 1,25-(OH)2D3 concentrations. Moreover, plasma osteocalcin did not increase during pregnancy or lactation in diabetic rats, even when fed a low calcium/phosphate diet. Fetuses of diabetic rats also had lower plasma osteocalcin levels than fetuses from non-diabetic rats or than weight-matched fetuses from semistarved rats. In contrast to plasma osteocalcin concentrations, bone osteocalcin concentrations and content were not altered by pregnancy, lactation, low calcium/phosphate diet or diabetes. These data show that plasma osteocalcin concentrations change during the reproductive period in normal rats but not in diabetic rats, and that osteocalcin levels do not seem to be regulated solely by 1,25-(OH)2D3. Journal of Endocrinology (1989) 120, 143–151