Effect of phosphate-regulating hormones on plasma composition, cardiovascular function, and parotid salivary phosphate secretion in red kangaroos (Macropus rufus).

The effects of administration of phosphate-regulating hormones on plasma composition, cardiovascular function, and secretion of phosphate and other electrolytes in parotid saliva were investigated in anesthetized red kangaroos. Plasma [PO4] was elevated by intravenous injections of 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol (1,25(OH)2D3) at 5 or 12.5 nmol/12 hr for 72 hr but was unaltered by intravenous or intracarotid infusion of either salmon or porcine calcitonins at rates up to 3.2 IU min-1 for 60 min or by intracarotid infusions of the 1-34 amino acid fragments of rat, human, or bovine parathyroid hormones (PTH(1-34) at 350-460 pmol/min for 60 min. Plasma [Ca] fell during high-rate calcitonin infusion and rose during 1,25(OH)2D3 administration. PTH(1-34) infusion did not alter plasma [Ca] but did lower plasma [K] and arterial blood pressure and elevated heart rate and hematocrit. Salivary [PO4] and [Ca] and secretion rates were unaffected by the calcitonin infusions, by PTH(1-34) infusions, or by 1,25(OH)2D3 injection. Plasma and salivary concentrations of other ions were unaltered. These data provide evidence that kangaroo tissue can recognize and respond to all three types of phosphate-regulating hormones despite the peptides being foreign; however, the parotid gland of kangaroos, unlike the parotids of rats and sheep, did not respond and presumably lacks some component of the receptor-secretion couplings for these hormones. This independence of salivary PO4 secretion from hormonal regulation may be one of several adaptations which ensure relatively stable and adequate phosphate delivery to the foregut microorganisms despite an unreliable phosphorus intake in the natural diet.