2006 Annual Report 4d.Progress report. This report serves to document research conducted under a non-funded cooperative agreement 58-5450-4-0038F between ARS and the National University of Salta, Argentina. Additional details of the research can be found in the report for the parent CRIS project 5450-51000-039-00D, Mineral Intakes for Optimal Bone and Joint Development and Health. The purpose of this research is to determine whether boron is bioactive in bone formation and thus promotes bone growth and remodeling. Two experiments, one with mice and one with rats, showed that boron deprivation compared to nutritional intakes of boron resulted in impaired alveolar bone healing after tooth extraction because reduced osteogenesis (bone formation). The findings indicate that a low boron status results in suboptimal healing of bone after injury. Scientific Publications: Publications are reported in the parent CRIS 5450-510000-039-00D.