The Kidney as an Endocrine Organ for the Production of 1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3, a Calcium-Mobilizing Hormone

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Abstract
THE classic effect of vitamin D is to bring about mineralization of bone. Although the possibility remains that some form of vitamin D functions directly at the mineralization site, most evidence indicates that vitamin D acts by supplying calcium and phosphate to the calcification sites. Thus, the extracellular fluid in vitamin D deficiency is undersaturated with the hydroxyapatite-mineral component of bone, and it is this factor that is thought to have the major role in the failure of calcification in this deficiency disease.1 It is generally believed that the vitamin brings about an elevation of plasma calcium and phosphorus by . . .