PHOSPHATASE STUDIES

Abstract

The significance of phosphatase in the physiology of bone has been studied by Robison and his associates and reviewed by Robison¹and Kay.²Kay^2aand others³reported an increase of plasma phosphatase in several diseases of bone. We have also found increases of serum phosphatase when generalized osteoporosis was produced experimentally.⁴ Some of our other experimental results⁵indicate the untenability of the current view^lathat an increase of plasma or serum phosphatase is "confined almost exclusively to cases of bone disease." However, determinations of serum phosphatase still find their most useful application in the diagnosis of diseases of the bones. Variations of serum phosphatase which are not related to bone metabolism will be considered here only incidentally, and will be discussed elsewhere in greater detail. Kay,^2aJenner and Kay^3band others reporting figures for plasma phosphatase in health and disease used Kay's⁶or Jenner and Kay's^3bmethod of determination. The