[Effect of phosphorus intake on calcium homeostasis and bone tissue status in rats receiving hydrocortisone]

The increase of phosphorus content up to 1.2-1.8% in the diet (the calcium/phosphorus ratio 1:2 or 1:3) accelerates the development and raises the rate of hypocalcemia and osteoporosis in rats administered pharmacological doses of hydrocortisone (3.5 mg per 100 g bw a day for 2 or 4 weeks). The decrease of phosphorus content to 0.3% (calcium-phosphorus 1:0.5) essentially retards the development of these disturbances and reduces their severity, which points to the advisability of clinical trials of the diet with phosphorus limitation as means of the prophylaxis of calcium homeostasis and bone alterations during long-term administration of glucocorticoids and in endogenous hypercorticoidism.