Transcapillary exchange of strontium and sucrose in canine tibia.

The walls of haversian capillaries have been proposed as a physiologic membrane controlling flux of solute between blood and bone. In this study, capillary permeability to 85Sr and [14C]sucrose was estimated in the dog tibia by using indicator dilution techniques. Sucrose was chosen as a tracer because it is inert and has no known transport system. The mean (+/-SD) observed ratio of permeabilities of 85Sr and sucrose was 2.36 +/- 0.46 (N = 14) which is not substantially different from the ratio of their free diffusion coefficients, 2.55. This ratio was not influenced when the dogs were made hyperparathyroid by injection of parathyroid hormone (2.16 +/- 0.55; N = 11). This suggests that free diffusion is the principal mechanism for moving 85Sr across the bone capillary wall.