Technical Briefs Is Bone Alkaline Phosphatase an Adequate Marker of Bone Metabolism During Acute Corticosteroid Treatment? Anne

resulb.ulb.ac.he) Corticosteroids are known to decrease bone formation. This effect is evidenced by a decrease imi the serum concentrations of biochemnical markers of bone formnation such as serum osteocal-cm (BGP) or type I procollagen propeptide (PICP) /1, 2j. Cross-sectional studies have shown differences in the mnagnitutle and timne course of the response, depending on the investigated serumn hone marker, the corticosteroiti dose, and the route of administration /3/. High doses of intravenous methylpred-nisolone (pulse MPS) have been recently shown to induce a rapid and important decrease in BGP /4 / and PICP /5/. Re-cently, the measuremnent of bone alkaline phosphatase (BAP) by IRMA was proposed as a miew marker of osteoblastic function, BAP having l)een shown to l)e quite tiiscriminant in several conditions of increased hone turnover, e.g., postmenopausa