Lack of a Correlation Between Variations in the Amount of Calcium and Serum Albumin in the Blood Sera of Chicks

THE presence of more non-diffusible calcium in the sera of laying hens than in the sera of non-laying hens has been confirmed many times since it was reported by Correll and Hughes (1933), and in more recent years others have shown that the same relationship holds for young hens and cockerels under the influence of the female sex hormone or diethylstilbestrol. In addition, Moore (1948), Brandt et al. (1951) and Clegg et al. (1952) have demonstrated that the serum proteins of laying hens or hormone treated birds contain electrophoretic components not present in the serums of the normal non-laying birds. Some investigators, including Greenberg (1944), are of the opinion that the serum albumin is the protein component responsible for most of the ion binding capacity of the blood serum. In the subsequent discussion, information concerning calcium binding ability of the serum components of chicken is discussed. The lack of …