The most striking effects of estrogens are seen in birds. During the part of the life cycle prior to egg formation, a marked increase in osteoblastic activity occurs along the inside surfaces of the long bones, and the medullary cavities become filled with spongy bone. As the egg is formed, this spongy bone is rapidly resorbed; plasma calcium rises dramatically; and calcium is deposited in the shell. In mammals studied prior to skeletal maturity, administration of estrogens produces an accelerated appearance of ossification centres, a slowing in growth of cartilage and bone, and fusion of the epiphyses; the result is an adult skeleton smaller than normal. In older mammals, estrogens in certain dosages and schedules of administration may inhibit trabecular bone resorption, and, in some species, prolonged administration of estrogen may lead to increased bone porosity. In postmenopausal women, administration of estrogen suppresses bone resorption and produces a transient decrease in serum calcium and phosphorus and in renal reabsorption of phosphorus, as well as positive calcium balance—effects that help to stabilize the total skeletal bone mass.

The effects described are for estrogens as a general class of steroid hormones, and no attempt has been made to differentiate between the actions of natural estrogenic hormones and the many synthetic varieties now in wide use to suppress ovulation.

Very little is known of the effects of progesterone on bone beyond studies in young guinea pigs suggesting slight inhibition of the activity of such hormones as estrogens, which speed skeletal development.

In mammals, including humans, just prior to sexual maturity, the growth spurt occurring in males is attributable principally to the growth-promoting action of the male sex hormone testosterone. When administered, testosterone and related steroids stimulate linear growth for a limited period; ultimately, however, particularly if they are given in large doses, they suppress bone growth as the result of hastened skeletal development and premature epiphyseal closure. Studies have indicated that testosterone derivatives administered to adult mammals suppress the turnover and resorption of bone and increase the retention of nitrogen, phosphorus, and calcium.

The influence of the adrenal corticosteroid hormones on bone is varied, but the principal result is slowing of growth in the young and decrease in bone mass in the adult. In Cushing syndrome, in which there is abnormally high secretion of corticosteroids, bone loss to the point of fractures often occurs. Cortisol in high concentration suppresses protein and mucopolysaccharide synthesis, with inhibition of bone matrix formation and of incorporation of nucleosides into bone cells. Cortisol also inhibits intestinal calcium absorption, which in turn causes increases in PTH production and the rate of bone resorption.

Lack of the internal secretion of the thyroid gland results in retardation of skeletal growth and development. Action of this hormone to facilitate growth and skeletal maturation is probably indirect, through its general effects on cell metabolism. Thyroid hormone in excess leads in the young to premature appearance of ossification centres and closure of the epiphyses and in adults to increased bone-cell metabolism. Commonly, in the hyperthyroid adult, bone resorption predominates over increased bone formation with resultant loss of bone mass.

The anterior lobe of the pituitary gland secretes a hormone essential for growth and development of the skeleton. This effect of the hormone is indirect and mediated by “sulfation factor,” a substance produced in the liver in response to stimulation by the growth hormone. The extent to which growth hormone is involved in skeletal remodeling in the adult is not known, but excessive elaboration of the hormone after maturity leads to distorted enlargement of all bones in the condition known as acromegaly. Excessive elaboration of growth hormone prior to epiphyseal closure leads to gigantism. Studies of the administration of growth hormone to humans have indicated marked species specificity; growth in hypopituitary dwarfs is stimulated only by human or primate growth hormone. The principal metabolic effects of the hormone in humans are retention of nitrogen and increased turnover of calcium, resulting in increases both in intestinal calcium absorption and in urinary calcium excretion.

Insulin participates in the regulation of bone growth; it may enhance or even be necessary for the effect of growth hormone on bone. Insulin has been found to stimulate growth and epiphyseal widening in rats whose pituitaries have been removed and to promote chondroitin sulfate synthesis in cartilage and bone and the transport of amino acids and nucleosides into bone.

Nutritional influences

The most significant nutritional influence on bone is the availability of calcium. The close relationship between bone and calcium is indicated by the principal processes of calcium metabolism. Bone contains 99 percent of the calcium in the body and can behave as an adequate buffer for maintenance of a constant level of freely moving calcium in soft tissues, extracellular fluid, and blood. The free-calcium concentration in this pool must be kept within fairly narrow limits (50–65 mg per litre of extracellular fluid) to maintain the constant internal environment necessary for neuromuscular irritability, blood clotting, muscle contractility, and cardiac function. Calcium leaves the pool by way of bone formation, by such routes as the urine, feces, and sweat, and periodically by way of lactation and transplacental movement. Calcium enters the pool by the mechanism of bone resorption and by absorption from dietary calcium in the upper intestinal tract.

The significance with respect to bone of adequate availability of calcium to animals or humans is that the mechanical strength of bone is proportional to its mineral content. All of the other components of bone, organic and inorganic, are of course also essential for bone integrity, but the importance of availability of structural materials is most easily illustrated by consideration of calcium balance (dietary intake versus excretory output). If intake of calcium is limited, maintenance of normal levels of extracellular and soft tissue calcium in the face of mandatory daily losses from this pool by various excretory routes requires that calcium be mined from its storage depot, bone. Abundant mineral intake then tends to preserve bone mass, and an increase of positivity of calcium balance has been shown to suppress resorption of bone.

The Food and Nutrition Board of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences has recommended 1,000 to 2,000 mg of calcium daily for adults and 800 to 1,300 mg for children. The usual daily intake of calcium in the diet, however, is between 400 and 600 mg, about 150 to 250 mg from green vegetables and the remainder usually from milk and milk products. Daily urinary excretion of calcium is normally from 50 to 150 mg in females and 50 to 300 mg in males. Fecal excretion of calcium is much larger than urinary excretion; most of the calcium in the feces is unabsorbed dietary calcium. Heavy sweating can result in a loss of more than 200 mg per day. Calcium absorption varies depending on previous and current levels of calcium intake and type of diet. Approximately 30 percent of dietary calcium is absorbed when there is adequate vitamin D intake.

The other principal mineral constituent of bone is phosphorus, which is abundantly available in milk, meat, and other protein-rich foods. The recommended daily intake of phosphorus is 700 mg daily for adults, 1,250 mg daily for adolescents, and 500 mg daily for children up to age eight. A prolonged dietary deficiency in phosphorus or marked loss of phosphorus in the urine can result in mineral-poor bone, known as rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults. The skeleton also serves as a storage reservoir for magnesium. Magnesium deficiency can result in neuromuscular dysfunction similar to a calcium deficiency. Magnesium is critically important for the regulation of parathyroid hormone.

Fluoride, an element of proven value and safety in prevention of dental cavities when provided in drinking water at concentrations of one part per million, is absorbed into bone lattice structure as well as into enamel and produces a larger crystal more resistant to resorption. Amounts 10 or more times that normally taken in fluoridated drinking water have been noted to cause abnormalities of bone collagen synthesis. Extremely large dosages in humans produce the denser but irregularly structured and brittle bone of fluorosis.

The function of vitamin A remains to be clarified, but it is apparently necessary for proliferation of cartilage and bone growth. Without vitamin A, bone remodeling is also impaired and bones develop in abnormal shapes. Excessive amounts of the vitamin result in thinning of cortical bone and fracture.

Ascorbic acid, or vitamin C, is essential for intracellular formation of collagen and for hydroxylation of proline. In scurvy, a disease caused by vitamin C deficiency, the collagen matrix of bone is either partially or completely unable to calcify (see above Remodeling, growth, and development).

Vitamin D has several complex physiologic actions that affect calcium, phosphorus, and bone metabolism. A form of vitamin D called calcitrial increases the efficiency of intestinal calcium absorption and also interacts directly with osteoblasts to increase osteoblast function. At times when dietary calcium is inadequate, calcitrial will stimulate osteoblasts to increase osteoclast differentiation factor (ODF) on their surface, which in turn mobilizes osteoclast mesenchymal cells to become mature osteoclasts. Thus, the major function of vitamin D is to maintain serum levels of calcium by increasing absorption of dietary calcium in the intestine. At times of increased need, such as during pregnancy, lactation, and adolescent growth, circulating levels of calcitrial are increased, resulting in an increase of up to 80 percent in the efficiency of intestinal calcium absorption. In vitamin D deficiency, parathyroid hormone levels are elevated, causing an increased loss of phosphorus into the urine.

Other nutritional factors include protein, which, as an essential component of the matrix of bone, must be provided by a combination of dietary intake and conversion from other tissues. Changes in acid-base balance also have an influence on the skeleton—acidosis in various clinical disorders and ingestion of acid salts being accompanied by mineral loss.