The Significance of Yellow Bone: Evidence for Tetracycline in Adult Human Bone

Tetracycline binds to growing bone and imparts a brilliant and fluorescent yellow to this tissue. The cumulative deposition of tetracycline in cortical bone during many years resulted in levels of 156, 270, and 290 μg/g, respectively, of bone wet weight in three patients who used this antibiotic for acne vulgaris. Although tetracycline in high doses impairs mineralization of growing bone in the fetus and young, its long-term use in therapeutic dosages in the human adult has no known deleterious effect. Yellow bone appears safe for the human carrier and as a transplantable tissue. ( JAMA 1981;246:761-763)