title: Serum concentrations of carboxyl-terminal propeptide of type I procollagen, amino-terminal propeptide of type III procollagen, cross-linked carboxyl-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen, and their interrelationships in schoolchildren.
abstract: We report pediatric age- and sex-specific 95% reference intervals for procollagen type I C-terminal propeptide (PICP), the cross-linked C-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen (ICTP), and procollagen type III N-terminal propeptide (P3NP), measured in plasma from 302 schoolchildren (156 boys, 146 girls) ages 4-19 years. All three markers displayed a significant variation with age (ANOVA P < or = 0.0015). PICP showed no detectable increase during adolescence for either sex, but decreased towards adult concentrations after the age of puberty, with an earlier decrease for girls than for boys (P < 0.01). ICTP and P3NP both increased in pubertal-aged children (P < 0.05), with an earlier increase in girls than in boys (P < 0.05), before decreasing towards adult concentrations (P < 0.01). All three collagen markers were highly correlated with one another (P < 0.001). The patterns observed mirrored the childhood growth curve and reflected the high turnover of bone and soft tissue during childhood growth.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Biochemistry, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Scotland, UK.
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Crofton
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Wade
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: C V
authors.initials: CV
authors.lastname: Holland
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000097:blood*; D011347:Procollagen / Q000097:blood* / Q000737:chemistry; D011627:Puberty / Q000097:blood*; D012016:Reference Values; D012727:Sex Characteristics
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D011347:Procollagen; C042813:procollagen type I carboxy terminal peptide