Role of calcitriol in phosphate regulation by the chick embryo.

Chick embryos were injected on the 14th day of incubation with 100 ng calcitriol. The concentration of Ca in their serum rose significantly 4 hours after the injection and the concentration of Pi started to decrease 10 hours after. When embryos of the same age were injected with a solution containing CaCl2, the concentrations of both Ca and P rose significantly 2 hours after the injection and remained high until the end of the experiment. The fact that both treatments produced hypercalcemia but had opposite effects on the concentration of Pi does not agree with the idea that the hypophosphatemic response to calcitriol might be secondary to the hypercalcemia which precedes it. The injection of a solution of NaHCO3 to embryos of the same age failed to produce hypophosphatemia. The fact that calcium salts and bicarbonate, when injected separately, fail to induce hypophosphatemia does not contradict the possibility that the hypophosphatemic response to calcitriol might result from the simultaneous increase in flux of Ca and -HCO3 from the shell. Three days after the injection of calcitriol to 14-day-old embryos, the total amount of Ca and P in the urine was significantly higher than in the controls. The concentration of Ca and P in kidney tissue was also significantly higher in the injected embryos. In addition, calcified precipitates were detected histochemically in the lumen of the kidney tubules from the treated embryos. These results are interpreted as demonstrating that an increase in the excretion of P in the urine is the main mechanism explaining calcitriol-induced hypophosphatemia in the chick embryo.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)