Calcification and ossification. Medullary bone changes in the reproductive cycle of female pigeons

Abstract

ONE TEXT FIGURE AND FOUR PLATE'S (SEVEN FIQURES) This is a description of tlie rapid changes observed in the bone formed in the medulla of some of the long bones during the preovulatory, ovulatory, and postovulatory periods of the female pigeon (Bloom, Bloom, Domm and McLean, '40). This work is a part of a general study of bone formation mid destruction and was stimulatecl in particular by the observation by Kyes and Potter ('34) of the development of bone in the niarrow of pigeons with large ovarian follicles. Observations made on laying chickens and ducks and the findings in pigeons injected with male and female sex hormones will be reported separately.Our interest in the reniai-kable bone changes in the marrow of birds in connection with ovulation and egg-laying centers about the general questions of : (1) The relations between bone iiiatrix and bone salt during the deposition and removal of hone, (2) the hone-forming potentialities of reticular cells, and (3) the origin arid fate of the cells associated Fit11 tlie foi-mation and dest1*uction of bone. Because of the rapidity of the changes in the bone during certain stages of the cgg-1 a~i n g cycle, this material offers unusual opportunities for the study of these problems.'This work has been rtided by grants from the nr. Wallace C. and Clara A.X11l)ott Memorial Fund of The University of Chicago, and from the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation. 443

Arthropods and Seeds are not Sufficient as Calcium Sources for Shell Formation and Skeletal Growth in Passerines

“…Many bird species store calcium in the skeleton as medullary bone prior to egg-laying (Pfeiffer et at. 1940, Bloom et at. 1941, March & Sadleir 1975, Jones 1976, Schifferli 1977, Turner 1982, Pinowska & Krasnicki 1985.…”

The Problem of Specificity in Growth and Development

“…(2) What is their nature, and can they be expressed in terms of known properties of a simpler order? Let us turn to the first point first.…”

“…(2) Differentiation: the gradual elaboration of new chemical systems and compounds not previously present as such, presumably by gradual transformation of the patterns according to which synthesis of the protoplasmic compounds occurs. This transformation of basic protoplasm takes divergent courses in different cell strains, producing lines which become increasingly dissimilar in their biochemical and morphological constitution as development proceeds.…”

“…There are three possible answers to this question. They refer to three principles which we shall call (I) selective conduction, (2) selective fixation, and (3) selective elimination. A brief explanation of these follows.…”

Autoradiographic Studies of the Utilization of Ca45 by the Chick Embryo

“…Robison (1930, 1934), Robison and Soames (1930), and more recently Sevastikoglou (1957), have studied these phenomena in ~itro, and others have attacked the problem from various aspects in a variety of forms (See Bourne, 1956). Bloom et al (1941) have * This work was performed under Contract AT-(40-1)-1775 with the United States Atomic Energy Commission.…”