Regulation of extraembryonic calcium mobilization by the developing chick embryo

During development, the chick embryo mobilizes the calcium it needs from two extraembryonic sources, first the yolk and then the eggshell. Since previous studies have strongly suggested that vitamins D and K may regulate chick embryonic calcium metabolism, we have examined here how these vitamins might be involved in regulating the calcium mobilization processes. We used as our experimental system chick embryos which were maintained in long-term in vitro culture in the absence of the eggshell. Our results showed that exogenous vitamin D3, in the form of the active 1,25-dihydroxylated metabolite, was hypercalcaemic in both control embryos and the calcium-deficient, shell-less embryos. Since the eggshell was absent in the latter, the vitamin D-induced hypercalcaemia must involve mobilization of calcium from the yolk and, or, the embryonic skeleton. The latter was unlikely since concomitant hyperphosphataemia was not observed. By radiolabelling the yolk with 45Ca2+ and subsequently monitoring its distribution, we showed that vitamin D3 stimulated yolk calcium mobilization. However, exogenous vitamin D3 did not appear to influence the calcium uptake activity of the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM), the tissue responsible for translocating eggshell calcium. On the other hand, when embryos were rendered vitamin K deficient by the administration of its antagonist, Warfarin, CAM calcium activity was significantly depressed, an effect which was remedied by vitamin K supplementation. We conclude that, during normal chick embryonic development, vitamin D is primarily involved in regulating yolk calcium mobilization whereas vitamin K is required for eggshell calcium translocation by the CAM.