Extratrabecular Crystallization in Rickets; Effects of Vitamin D, Calcium and Norethandrolone.

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Abstract
Five groups of 10 newborn chicks/group were fed the low Ca Association of Official Agricultural Chemists diet without vitamin D. After one week the diet was supplemented in 4 groups as follows: (a) Ca3 (PO4)2 1%; (b) vitamin D3-1000 units %; (c) norethandrolone (Nilevar, Searle) 0.5 g/kilo; (d) norethandrolone as in (c) with Ca3 (PO4)2 as in (a). Group 5 was unmodified. At 2 weeks of age, the untreated birds were suffering from severe rickets as judged by tarso-metatarsal radiographs, bone ash, Ca45 intestinal absorption and by the histological picture of cartilage and bone. Calcium and norethandrolone treatments have modified the histology and histochemistry of these tissues as recently recognized. The intimate effects of these agents on the mineral fraction is still unknown. After 2 weeks in the present series, the chicks were given 100 [mu]c p32 in 0.5 ml distilled water intraperitoneally. Five chicks from each group were sacrificed 2 hr. later. The right tibia was roughly dissected, fixed in 10% neutral aqueous formaldehyde embedded in celloidin and cut at 12[mu]. For phase contrast microscopy, the sections were mounted in neutral synthetic resin (Permount, Fisher) without staining. Large extratrabecular crystals are present in rachitic bones of chicks. They disappear after treatment with vitamin D.