Effect of Intravenous Phosphate on Serum Strontium and Calcium

Abstract

Administration of phosphate intravenously to four hypercalcemic patients caused serum calcium and serum strontium to fall. Strontium was given intravenously 72 hours before phosphate infusion. The pattern of fall and the interval before the subsequent rise in serum calcium and strontium are not compatible with previously postulated effects of phosphate on bone resorption or formation. Acute administration of phosphate causes temporary deposition or sequestration of the alkaline earth metals in a form from which they are released in a relatively short time. The anatomic site of this action remains to be determined.