Calcitonin.
Calcitonin operates predominantly to regulate acute hypercalcemic states. The response to calcium challenges is lowest in elderly women; however, the contribution of calcitonin to the etiology of osteoporosis is unclear. The calcitonin receptor is a member of a supergene family consisting of G-protein-linked receptors with seven domains spanning the cellular membrane. These receptors are distributed in calcium-responsive tissues, gut, and hypothalamus and mediate calcitonin's known clinical effects of hypocalcemia, enhanced gastric motility, and analgesia. Therapeutic use of calcitonin is indicated in both perimenopausal and postmenopausal women with contraindications or intolerance to estrogen replacement therapy, Paget's disease, painful vertebral compression fractures, and steroid-induced osteopenia.
Sewell
K L
KL
Divisions of Rheumatology and Aging, Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts.