Endocrinology, Vol 115, 2375-2378, Copyright © 1984 by Endocrine Society

ARTICLES

Absence of biological effects of oxidized parathyroid hormone-(1-34) in dogs and rats

T Galceran, J Lewis-Finch, KJ Martin and E Slatopolsky

Recent studies have shown that oxidation of bovine PTH-(1-34) [bPTH-(1- 34)] with H2O2 abolished the vascular effects of PTH in rats and dogs, but the hypercalcemic effect of the oxidized PTH was preserved in the Japanese quail in vivo. These observations seem at variance with previous studies from our laboratory in the isolated perfused canine tibia preparation in which no uptake of immunoreactive PTH or stimulation of cAMP release was demonstrated during infusion of oxidized bPTH-(1-34). The present studies examine the skeletal and renal effects of oxidized PTH-(1-34) in rats and dogs in vivo. Oxidation of PTH with H2O2 reduced its activation of adenylate cyclase by 95% in dog renal cortical membrane. Awake normal dogs were studied before and during the infusion of bPTH-(1-34) or oxidized PTH-(1-34) (4 U/kg X h). With active PTH, ionized Ca+2 rose in each dog (range, 0.7- 1.5 mg/dl), while with oxidized PTH, Ca+2 remained within 0.1 mg/dl of the baseline values. Fractional excretion of PO4 rose from 1.58 +/- 0.6% to 29.5 +/- 2.5% with active PTH and from 1.4 +/- 0.4% to 5.7 +/- 1% with oxidized PTH. The latter did not differ from the value in vehicle-infused dogs. Further studies were performed in 30 acutely parathyroidectomized rats. Plasma Ca+2 rose from 8.2 +/- 0.1 to 9.0 +/- 0.3 mg/dl with active PTH (20 micrograms/kg), fell to 7.7 +/- 0.2 with oxidized PTH, and fell to 7.3 +/- 0.3 mg/dl with vehicle. In parathyroid-intact rats plasma Ca+2 increased by 0.9 mg/dl whether given active PTH, oxidized PTH, or vehicle. We conclude that oxidation of bPTH-(1-34) results in loss of both the renal and skeletal effects of PTH in vivo in rats and dogs.