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Clinical Aspects of the Use of Vitamin D and Its Metabolites in Osteoporosis

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Osteoporosis

Part of the book series: Contemporary Endocrinology ((COE))

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Abstract

The vitamin D compounds regulate intestinal calcium absorption and thus contribute to the maintenance of serum calcium concentrations. They also have direct effects on bone, where their principal action is a stimulation of bone resorption. In addition, they impact on osteoblast activity, the kidney and a variety of other tissues. The clinical syndrome which develops in the presence of severe vitamin D deficiency is osteomalacia, presenting in children as rickets. Osteomalacia is characterized by the presence of unmineralized bone matrix. This occurs in vitamin D deficiency because the low concentrations of both calcium and phosphate in the extracellular fluid are inadequate to result in the normal formation of hydroxyapatite crystals. Osteomalacia caused by vitamin D deficiency is also characterized by marked hyperparathyroidism, as the body’s homeostatic mechanisms struggle to maintain a normal serum calcium concentration in the face of its deficient intestinal absorption. Hyperparathyroidism results in the mobilization of calcium from bone.

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  1. Ian R. Reid MD
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  1. Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA

    Eric S. Orwoll MD  & Michael Bliziotes MD  & 

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Reid, I.R. (2003). Clinical Aspects of the Use of Vitamin D and Its Metabolites in Osteoporosis. In: Orwoll, E.S., Bliziotes, M. (eds) Osteoporosis. Contemporary Endocrinology. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-278-4_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-278-4_14

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