title: Intestinal CaBP: a new quantitive index of vitamin D deficiency in the rat.
abstract: Rats raised from weaning on regiments adequate in calcium and phosphorus but deficient in vitamin D will have no detectable intestinal calcium-binding proteins (CaBP), whether or not they show other signs of vitamin D deficiency, such as hypocalcemia. When hypocalcemic, vitamin D-deficient animals were treated with 25-hydroxycholecalciferol, a vitamin D metabolite, they showed a dose-dependent increase in plasma calcium and CaBP; both responses can be described by a single linear relationship, which appears to apply whether the metabolite is 25-hydroxycholecalciferol or dihydrotachysterol. Since vitamin D status is only one determinant of plasma calcium, whereas CaBP (or its expression) appears to depend on vitamin D quantitatively, CaBP may be used as an index of vitamin D status, provided calcium intake is controlled.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002118:Calcium / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D002136:Calcium, Dietary; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D004097:Dihydrotachysterol / Q000494:pharmacology; D006887:Hydroxycholecalciferols / Q000494:pharmacology; D006996:Hypocalcemia / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D013997:Time Factors; D014808:Vitamin D Deficiency / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D002136:Calcium, Dietary; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D006887:Hydroxycholecalciferols; D004097:Dihydrotachysterol; D002118:Calcium