Urinary outputs of oxalate, calcium, and magnesium in children with intestinal disorders. Potential cause of renal calculi.
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24-hour urinary outputs of oxalate, calcium, and magnesium have been determined in a total of 62 children aged 3 months to 17 years who fell into the following groups: (i) 16 normal controls, (ii) 3 with primary hyperoxaluria, (iii) 9 with small and/or large intestinal resections, (iv) 9 with untreated coeliac disease, (v) 5 with pancreatic dysfunction, and (vi) a miscellaneous group of 20 children with a variety of intestinal disorders. Taken as a whole, 58% of patients with intestinal disorders had hyperoxaluria, and of these 7% had urinary outputs of oxalate which fell within the range seen in primary hyperoxaluria. The proportion of children with hyperoxaluria in the different diagnostic groups was as follows: intestinal resections (78%), coeliac disease (67%), pancreatic dysfunction (80%), and miscellaneous (45%). 35% of the patients with hyperoxaluria had hypercalciuria, whereas magnesium excretion was normal in all subjects studied. In 2 patients treatment of the underlying condition was accompanied by a return of oxalate excretion to normal. These results indicate that hyperoxaluria and hypercalciuria are common in children with a variety of intestinal disorders, and that such children may be at risk of developing renal calculi without early diagnosis and treatment. (+info)
Renal stones and urinary infection: a study of antibiotic treatment.
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Twenty-two patients in whom renal calculi and urinary infection were closely associated were studied over two to five years. Four patients had previously had stones surgically removed, and five underwent pyelolithotomy during the course of the study. Urinary infection was treated with an appropriate antibacterial agent, and treatment was followed by long-term prophylaxis, usually with cotrimoxazole. A sterile urine was maintained for long periods in all these patients. In four patients, however, apparent stone growth occurred while the urine was sterile. On entering the study 21 of the 22 patients complained of symptoms. After treatment 19 of the 20 patients who were still attending were symptom-free. Six of the 22 patients entered the study with raised levels of serum creatinine; levels fell in four and remained raised in two. This antibacterial regimen, either alone or after surgery, will usually relieve symptoms and may prevent deterioration of renal function. (+info)
Intake of vitamins B6 and C and the risk of kidney stones in women.
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Urinary oxalate is an important determinant of calcium oxalate kidney stone formation. High doses of vitamin B6 may decrease oxalate production, whereas vitamin C can be metabolized to oxalate. This study was conducted to examine the association between the intakes of vitamins B6 and C and risk of kidney stone formation in women. The relation between the intake of vitamins B6 and C and the risk of symptomatic kidney stones were prospectively studied in a cohort of 85,557 women with no history of kidney stones. Semiquantitative food-frequency questionnaires were used to assess vitamin consumption from both foods and supplements. A total of 1078 incident cases of kidney stones was documented during the 14-yr follow-up period. A high intake of vitamin B6 was inversely associated with risk of stone formation. After adjusting for other dietary factors, the relative risk of incident stone formation for women in the highest category of B6 intake (> or =40 mg/d) compared with the lowest category (<3 mg/d) was 0.66 (95% confidence interval, 0.44 to 0.98). In contrast, vitamin C intake was not associated with risk. The multivariate relative risk for women in the highest category of vitamin C intake (> or =1500 mg/d) compared with the lowest category (<250 mg/d) was 1.06 (95% confidence interval, 0.69 to 1.64). Large doses of vitamin B6 may reduce the risk of kidney stone formation in women. Routine restriction of vitamin C to prevent stone formation appears unwarranted. (+info)
Nucleation of calcium oxalate crystals by albumin: involvement in the prevention of stone formation.
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BACKGROUND: Urine is supersaturated in calcium oxalate, which means that it will contain calcium oxalate crystals that form spontaneously. Their size must be controlled to prevent retention in ducts and the eventual development of a lithiasis. This is achieved, in part, by specific inhibitors of crystal growth. We investigated whether promoters of crystal nucleation could also participate in that control, because for the same amount of salt that will precipitate from a supersaturated solution, increasing the number of crystals will decrease their average size and facilitate their elimination. METHODS: Albumin was purified from commercial sources and from the urine of healthy subjects or idiopathic calcium stone formers. Its aggregation properties were characterized by biophysical and biochemical techniques. Albumin was then either attached to several supports or left free in solution and incubated in a metastable solution of calcium oxalate. Kinetics of calcium oxalate crystallization were determined by turbidimetry. The nature and efficiency of nucleation were measured by examining the type and number of neoformed crystals. RESULTS: Albumin, one of the most abundant proteins in urine, was a powerful nucleator of calcium oxalate crystals in vitro, with the polymers being more active than monomers. In addition, nucleation by albumin apparently led exclusively to the formation of calcium oxalate dihydrate crystals, whereas calcium oxalate monohydrate crystals were formed in the absence of albumin. An analysis of calcium oxalate crystals in urine showed that the dihydrate form was present in healthy subjects and stone formers, whereas the monohydrate, which is thermodynamically more stable and constitutes the core of most calcium oxalate stones, was present in stone formers only. Finally, urinary albumin purified from healthy subjects contained significantly more polymers and was a stronger promoter of calcium oxalate nucleation than albumin from idiopathic calcium stone formers. CONCLUSIONS: Promotion by albumin of calcium oxalate crystallization with specific formation of the dihydrate form might be protective, because with rapid nucleation of small crystals, the saturation levels fall; thus, larger crystal formation and aggregation with subsequent stone formation may be prevented. We believe that albumin may be an important factor of urine stability. (+info)
Temporal changes in mRNA expression for bikunin in the kidneys of rats during calcium oxalate nephrolithiasis.
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Inter-alpha-inhibitor and other bikunin-containing proteins are synthesized in relatively large quantities by the liver. These proteins function as Kunitz-type serine protease inhibitors and appear capable of inhibiting calcium oxalate (CaOx) crystallization in vitro. Preliminary studies have shown that renal tubular epithelial cells synthesize bikunin in response to CaOx challenge. To examine this response in vivo, a sensitive reverse transcription-quantitative competitive template-PCR was developed to detect and quantify poly(A)+ -tailed bikunin mRNA expression in kidney tissue from normal rats and rats developing CaOx nephrolithiasis after challenge with ethylene glycol. Bikunin mRNA expression in rat liver tissue was assessed as a positive control. The expression of bikunin mRNA in liver did not differ significantly between normal control rats and experimental rats with induced hyperoxaluria and renal CaOx crystallization. In contrast, there were significant temporal increases in the levels of bikunin mRNA expression in rat kidneys during CaOx nephrolithiasis after challenge with ethylene glycol. Urinary excretion of bikunin-containing proteins seemed to increase concomitantly. These findings indicate an association between the induction of hyperoxaluria/CaOx nephrolithiasis and the expression of the bikunin gene in rat kidneys. (+info)
Suggestive evidence for a susceptibility gene near the vitamin D receptor locus in idiopathic calcium stone formation.
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Calcium is the principal crystalline constituent in up to 80% of kidney stones. Epidemiologic studies have suggested that genetic predisposition plays a major role in the etiology of this condition. This study evaluates by a candidate-gene approach whether the vitamin D receptor (VDR) locus on chromosome 12q12-14 is implicated in idiopathic hypercalciuria and calcium nephrolithiasis in a cohort of 47 French Canadian pedigrees. These comprised 54 sibships with a total of 303 pairs of siblings concordant for > or =1 stone episode. Evidence is provided for linkage to nephrolithiasis with microsatellite marker D12S339 (near the VDR locus, P = 0.01), as well as with flanking markers (D12S1663: P = 0.03 and D12S368: P = 0.01). Inclusion of unaffected sibs in the analyses also supported evidence for linkage. Quantitative trait linkage analysis of urinary calcium excretion yielded linkage to some, but not all, markers. This appears to be the first study to suggest linkage for idiopathic calcium stone formation. (+info)
Resistive indices in the evaluation of infants with obstructive and nonobstructive pyelocaliectasis.
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Diagnosing obstructive uropathy by renal resistive indices calculated from duplex Doppler sonographic waveforms has been supported as well as challenged in the radiology literature relating to adults. Despite reports of normally higher resistive indices in children as compared to adults, two studies have documented high sensitivity and specificity of renal Doppler sonography in the diagnosis of obstructive uropathy in children, using the same discriminatory criterion of a resistive index of 0.7 or greater as used in adults. We evaluated 43 infants with significant or bilateral pyelocaliectasis secondary to both obstructive and unobstructive uropathy and found no significant difference in the mean resistive indices or the mean difference in resistive indices of two kidneys in one patient. We conclude that Doppler sonography in infants has no value in differentiating obstructive from nonobstructive pyelocaliectasis. (+info)
Essential arterial hypertension and stone disease.
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BACKGROUND: Cross-sectional studies have shown that nephrolithiasis is more frequently found in hypertensive patients than in normotensive subjects, but the pathogenic link between hypertension and stone disease is still not clear. METHODS: Between 1984 and 1991, we studied the baseline stone risk profile, including supersaturation of lithogenic salts, in 132 patients with stable essential hypertension (diastolic blood pressure of more than 95 mm Hg) without stone disease and 135 normotensive subjects (diastolic blood pressure less than 85 mm Hg) without stone disease who were matched for age and sex (controls). Subsequently, both controls and hypertensives were followed up for at least five years to check on the eventual formation of kidney stones. RESULTS: Baseline urine levels in hypertensive males were different from that of normotensive males with regards to calcium (263 vs. 199 mg/day), magnesium (100 vs. 85 mg/day), uric acid (707 vs. 586 mg/day), and oxalate (34.8 vs. 26.5 mg/day). Moreover, the urine of hypertensive males was more supersaturated for calcium oxalate (8.9 vs. 6.1) and calcium phosphate (1.39 vs. 0.74). Baseline urine levels in hypertensive females were different from that of normotensive females with regards to calcium (212 vs. 154 mg/day), phosphorus (696 vs. 614 mg/day), and oxalate (26.2 vs. 21.7 mg/day), and the urine of hypertensive females was more supersaturated for calcium oxalate (7.1 vs. 4.8). These urinary alterations were only partially dependent on the greater body mass index in hypertensive patients. During the follow-up, 19 out of 132 hypertensive patients and 4 out of 135 normotensive patients had stone episodes (14.3 vs. 2.9%, chi-square 11.07, P = 0.001; odds ratio 5.5, 95% CI, 1.82 to 16.66). Of the 19 stone-former hypertensive patients, 12 formed calcium calculi, 5 formed uric acid calculi, and 2 formed nondetermined calculi. Of the urinary factors for lithogenous risk, those with the greatest predictive value were supersaturation of calcium oxalate for calcium calculi and uric acid supersaturation for uric acid calculi. CONCLUSIONS: A significant percentage of hypertensive subjects has a greater risk of renal stone formation, especially when hypertension is associated with excessive body weight. Higher oxaluria and calciuria as well as supersaturation of calcium oxalate and uric acid appear to be the most important factors. Excessive weight and consumption of salt and animal proteins may also play an important role. (+info)