Introduction
The parathyroid glands control the level of calcium and phosphates in the blood.
- Phosphate levels can vary up to 2-3x the normal level without causing major problems
- Calcium levels have to be much more tightly controlled
There are many other things that are involved and interlinked with this!
- Contraction of skeletal, cardiac and smooth muscle
- Blood clotting
- Control of nerve impulses
- Increases in the level of calcium cause depression of the nervous system
- Decreases in the level of calcium causes excitation of the nervous system
Background Info
- There are 4 parathyroid glands in humans – one behind each of the poles of the two lobes of the thyroid gland.
- The glands are about 6x3x3mm
- They have the appearance of dark brown fat. They can often be hard to distinguish from just another lobule of the thyroid gland –and in the past in total thyroidectomies, they were often removed by mistake.
- You can lose the function of half of the parathyroid glands before there will be any physiological degradation. Even if you lose more than this, the remaining tissue is often able to hypertrophy, so that over time you may regain normal parathyroid function.
Anatomy
The parathyroid glands are made up mostly of chief cells and it is these that secrete the parathyroid hormone (PTH).
There are a very small number of oxyphil cells, and it is not certain exactly what these are for. Some believe that they are modified or depleted chief cells that no longer have a secretory function. These cells are absent in children.
Physiology
PTH – this is a very large amino acid, that as it travels will gradually lose small fragments of itself. The main molecule is removed very quickly by the kidneys, but the fragments remain in the blood for a long time and continue to exhibit PTH actions.
PTH will cause a rise in serum concentrations of calcium and a fall in serum concentrations of phosphate - but the effects on phosphate are complicated.
Note that the level of phosphate
falls more quickly than the level of
calcium rises.
The mechanisms by which
calcium ion concentration is altered is:
- PTH causes an decreased excretion of calcium by the kidneys.
- PTH causes an increase in the rate of calcium and phosphate absorption from bone. This effect is caused by PTH action onosteocytes. Osteocytes are osteoblasts that have become trapped in the matrix they secrete and are found throughout the bone. Generally osteoblasts are found on the surface and osteoclasts are found in the bone matrix. Osteoclast activity is not altered by PTH.
The osteoblasts and osteocytes are all connected to one another by thin filmy extensions. These extensions cover the whole bone, and are known as the osteocytic membrane system. This membrane separates the bone surface from the extracellular fluid. The cells that make up this membrane, pump calcium ions out of the bone side and into the extracellular fluid, meaning that the concentration ofcalcium ions in the fluid surrounding the bone is only 1/3 of that in the extracellular fluid. So, when stimulated by PTH, these cells increase the rate at which they pump calcium, and thus increase the concentration of calcium in the serum. When the pumps reduce their activity, levels of calcium increase in the bone fluid, and these extra ions are deposited in the bone matrix.
- If PTH is raised for long enough, then it will also cause proliferation of osteoclasts and greater activation of the osteoclasts already present. This will increase the amount of breakdown of bone, and increase serum concentrations of calcium and phosphates. It is thought that his mechanism is not directly mediated by PTH, but that osteoblasts and osteocytes release a second, unknown messenger that acts on osteoclasts.
Levels of calcium in the blood will begin to rise within minutes of PTH being secreted.
Extended activation of the parathyroid glands can thus lead to weakened bones, and this will cause secondary stimulation of osteoblasts. However, this is not great enough to prevent the increased action of osteoclasts, and overall bone degradation will still occur.
PTH also has one other effect: increasing calcium and phosphate absorption from the gut.
PTH and phosphate
- Phosphate excretion from the kidney is ↑
- Phosphate absorption from the gut and from bone is also ↑
- The net effect is a fall in serum phosphate concentration
|
Mechanism
|
|
Phosphate
|
|
Excretion by kidneys
|
↓
|
↑
|
|
Absorption from gut
|
↑
|
↑
|
|
Absorption from bone
|
↑
|
↑
|
$(function(){
var pertama = $('#herb-dict .herblist li:first-child').attr('class');
$('#herb-dict .herblist li.'+pertama).show();
$('#herb-dict .alphlist li#'+pertama+' a').addClass('active');
$('#herb-dict .alphlist li a').click(function(){
var target = $(this).attr('rel')
$('#herb-dict .herblist li').hide();
$('#herb-dict .herblist li.'+target).show();
$('#herb-dict .alphlist li a').removeClass('active');
$(this).addClass('active');
});
});
|
