Traumatic injury, including bone fracture, is, to date, one of the leading causes of koala mortality in the South East Queensland region of Australia. Further, the specialist diet of koalas, which is restricted to certain Eucalyptus spp., may impact their normal bone physiology. Considering the dramatic koala population decline and high incidence of trauma, a greater understanding of koala bone physiology may support conservation. We retrieved from GenBank the protein sequences of parathyroid hormone (PTH), osteocalcin (OCN), and tissue-nonspecific alkaline phosphatase (TNALP) in human, dog, cattle, horse, koala, and gray short-tailed opossum. After homology was determined, plasma samples from 13 koalas were analyzed with human PTH, OCN, and bone-specific ALP (BALP) assay kits. Although koala PTH exhibited relatively low sequence homology with placental mammals, high sequence homology between humans and koalas was observed for both OCN and TNALP, and successful cross-reactivity was achieved using human enzyme immunoassay kits for detection of OCN and BALP biomarkers in koala plasma. However, we identified no correlation between OCN and BALP concentrations of healthy and trauma-affected koalas (p = 0.66 and p = 0.79, respectively). Further analysis of OCN and BALP in healthy and diseased koalas will allow a better understanding of bone physiology in this unique marsupial.

迄今为止，包括骨折在内的外伤是澳大利亚东南昆士兰地区考拉死亡的主要原因之一。此外，考拉的特殊饮食，仅限于某些桉树spp.，可能会影响他们的正常骨骼生理。考虑到考拉数量急剧下降和创伤发生率高，对考拉骨骼生理学的更多了解可能有助于保护。我们从 GenBank 中检索了人类、狗、牛、马、考拉和灰色短尾负鼠的甲状旁腺激素 (PTH)、骨钙素 (OCN) 和组织非特异性碱性磷酸酶 (TNALP) 的蛋白质序列。确定同源性后，用人 PTH、OCN 和骨特异性 ALP (BALP) 检测试剂盒分析了 13 只考拉的血浆样本。尽管考拉 PTH 与胎盘哺乳动物的序列同源性相对较低，但在 OCN 和 TNALP 中都观察到了人类和考拉之间的高序列同源性，使用人酶免疫分析试剂盒检测考拉血浆中的 OCN 和 BALP 生物标志物，实现了成功的交叉反应。然而，我们发现健康和受创伤影响的考拉的 OCN 和 BALP 浓度之间没有相关性。分别为 p = 0.66 和p = 0.79）。进一步分析健康和患病考拉的 OCN 和 BALP 将有助于更好地了解这种独特的有袋动物的骨骼生理学。