The manganese and copper of chick bone

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Abstract
The bones of day-old and 3-wk.-old chicks were analyzed for Mn and Cu contents, either whole or after separation into ends and shafts. The Cu content of bones of day-old chicks was very much higher than the Mn content; but as 3 wk. the Cu content had fallen markedly and was slightly lower than the Mn content which had changed very little with age. Chick bones were extracted with trisodium ethylene diamine tetraacetate (EDTA) or with ethylene diamine hydrate (ED) and the Mn and Cu contents of extracted bones compared with those of similar unextracted bone. The EDTA removed most of the mineral phase including Mn but relatively little Cu, whereas ED removed most of the organic phase including Cu but very little Mn. There was a highly significant positive correlation between the quantity extracted by EDTA and that originally present with bones of different Mn content. The results are discussed in relation to bone metabolism.