The use of biochemical markers of bone turnover in clinical practice is an ever increasing field. The development of new methods and a better knowledge of the physiopathology of the bone diseases, mainly osteoporosis, are the main reason for that. The markers can be divided in formation markers, that reflect osteoblastic activity, and resorption markers that reflect osteoclastic activity. Among the first ones the most important are bone specific alkaline phosphatase and osteocalcin, and among the last ones the fragments derived from the metabolism of collagen, like pyridolines and the amino and carboxyl terminal telopeptides. Besides the well proved applications, like the diagnosis and follow-up of diseases with important bone effects, like Paget's disease, primary hyperparathyroidism and others, new applications have recently been studied. Among these the one that seems to be more consistent is the follow-up of patients submitted to treatment for osteoporosis; in a short time curse, 1 to 3 months, is possible to verify the efficacy of a given medical treatment, something you can only verify using bone densitometry after one or two years. New methods, in special for the measurement of resorption markers in serum, may turn the application of these assays even more disseminated.
Biochemical markers of bone metabolism; markers of bone formation; markers of bone resorption
