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Metabolic Activity of Sodium, Measured by Neutron Activation, in the Hands of Patients Suffering from Bone Diseases: Concise Communication

Medical Research Council, Cyclotron Unit, and Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith Hospital, London, United Kingdom

Correspondence: For reprints contact: T. J. Spinks, MRC Cyclotron Unit, Hammersmith Hospital, Ducane Rd., London WI2 OHS, England.

ABSTRACT

Turnover of sodium in the human hand was studied by neutron activation. Patients suffering from various metabolic abnormalities affecting the skeleton, who were undergoing routine neutron activation for the measurement of calcium, were investigated along with a group of healthy volunteers. Neutron activation labels the sodium atoms simultaneously and with equal probability regardless of the turn-over time of individual body compartments. The loss of sodium can be described either by a sum of two exponentials or by a single power function. Distinctions between patients and normal subjects were not apparent from the exponential model but were brought out by the power function. The exponent of time in the latter is a measure of clearance rate. The mean values of this parameter in (a) a group of patients suffering from acromegaly; (b) a group including Paget's disease, osteoporosis, Cushing's disease, and hyperparathyroidism; and (c) a group of healthy subjects, were found to be significantly different from each other.