[Effect of phosphate upon calcium intestinal absorption (author's transl)]

Adult rats receive 5 to 50 mM CaCl2 solutions in which glycerophosphate or sodium diacid phosphate may be added in variable quantity. These solutions are administered by gavage or in situ ligatured jejunal loop. The inhibition of calcium absorption dependent on simultaneously administered phosphate doses is well characterized: high for the lowest concentration, the inhibiting effect of phosphate doses decreases more and more reaching a limit from which phosphate supplementation has no effect. These observations discarding an intervention of phosphate by calcium insolubilization seem to demonstrate that the control supplied by phosphates on calcium absorption is of enzymatic character. Facts related to the respective effects of calcium and phosphates on the action of alkaline phosphatases lead to discuss a possible intervention of these enzymes upon calcium transfer.