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Investigations On Congenital And Induced Osteopetrosis, Donald G. Walker

MCV/Q, Medical College of Virginia Quarterly

Osteopetrosis, or marble bone disease, is a disturbance of skeletal development in which the rate of bone resorption fails to keep pace with the rate of bone formation. Bone matrix accumulates excessively throughout the skeletal system, causing damage to neighboring tissues--particularly the dental, hematopoietic and nervous tissues. The line of investigation on osteopetrosis which has led to the current point of view that the thyroid gland represents the primary side of the disturbance was initiated soon after an experimental animal became available.