Quantitative Analysis of Inorganic Calcium and Phosphorus in the Cortical Bone of Human Sternum

The most striking and obvious difference between the bony skeleton and all of the other forms of connective tissue is that it is the only member of this class to contain inorganic mineral deposits within its extracellular matrix space at almost all stages of its normal development. In actuality, bone mineral is an integral part of bone tissue having individual physical and chemical properties that directly affect those of the tissue as whole So a precise knowledge of the quantitative relationships between the constituents of bone is essential to understand such important matters as the chemistry of calcification, bone as reservoir, the nature of metabolic bone disorders, and the mode of action of parathyroid hormone, thyrocalcitonin, vitamins, sex and adrenal steroids. Therefore, author performed the quantitative analysis of the inorganic calcium and phosphorus in the cortical bone of sternum from the twenty korean people and the following result are obtained;1) In the cortex of sternum the total contents of inorganic calcium phosphate are 44.4% in male and 44.15% in female. 2) Calcium deposited in the cortex of sternum is 27.15%(SD±2.01) in male and 27.11%(SD±1.67) in female and also, phosphorus being 17.25%(SD±1.27) in male and being 17.05%(SD±1.53) in female 3) Molar calcium to phosphorus ratio is 1.57:1 and 1.59:1 in male and female, respectively.