• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.32 no.8
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• pp.1390-1393
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• 2003

Measuring in vivo rate of bone collagen synthesis has so far been technically difficult and often subject to quite large errors. In the present study, bone collagen synthesis rate was measured using a precursor-product method, based on the exchange of $^2$$H_2O$ into amino acids. Mass isotopomer abundance in hydroxyproline from bone collagen was analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. The $^2$$H_2O$ labeling protocol consisted of an initial intraperitoneal injection of 99.9% $^2$$H_2O$, to achieve approximately 2.5% body water enrichment followed by administration of 4% $^2$$H_2O$ in drinking water for 9 weeks. Body $^2$$H_2O$ enrichments were stable at 2.7 ∼ 3.0% over labeling Period. In growing rats, the fractional synthesis rate ( $k_{s}$) of bone collagen was 0.066 $\pm$ 0.049 w $k^{-1}$ . The unique features of stable $^2$$H_2O$ pools and label incorporation allowed the precursor-product approach to be used for measuring bone collagen synthesis rate..