Pathogenesis of idiopathic calcium nephrolithiasis: update 1997

Different effects of γ-linolenic acid (GLA) supplementation on plasma and red blood cell phospholipid fatty acid composition and calcium oxalate kidney stone risk factors in healthy subjects from two race groups with different risk profiles pose questions about the GLA-arachidonic acid-oxaluria metabolic pathway: pilot study

Fatty acid (FA) composition of phospholipids in plasma and red blood cells (RBC) can influence calciuria, oxaluria and renal stone formation. In this regard, the ratio of arachidonic acid (AA) and its precursor linoleic acid (LA) appears to be important. Administration of γ-linolenic acid (GLA) has been shown to increase the concentration of dihomo-gamma linoleic acid (DGLA) relative to AA indicating that it may attenuate biosynthesis of the latter. Such effects have not been investigated in race groups having difference stone occurrence rates. Black (B) and white (W) healthy males ingested capsules containing linoleic acid (LA) and GLA, for 30 days. Plasma and RBC total phospholipid (TPL) FA profiles, serum and 24 h urine biomarkers of hypercalciuria and urinary stone risk factors were determined on days 0 and 30. Data were tested for statistical significance using GraphPadInstat version 3.02. Concentration and percentage content of DGLA in plasma TPL increased in W but not in B. Arachidonic acid (AA) did not change in either group. There was no change in calcium excretion in either group but oxalate and citrate excretion increased in W. We suggest that elongation of GLA to DGLA may occur more rapidly than desaturation of DGLA to AA in W and that depressed activity of the enzyme elongase may occur in B. Calciuric and citraturic effects may be dependent on the quantity of LA or on the mass ratio of LA/GLA in the FA supplement. Questions about the mooted DGLA-AA-oxaluria pathway arise. We speculate that there exists a potential for using GLA as a conservative treatment for hypocitraturia. The observation of different responses in B and W indicates that such differences may play a role in stone formation and prevention.

Lithiasis and Risk Factors

Nephrolithiasis is a worldwide disease with high clinical and economic costs. The increasing incidence in industrialized countries seems to be related to several risk factors, which are partly inherited and partly acquired. Although risk factors in urolithiasis are still under discussion, their identification would provide a notable gain for the patient in terms of stone episodes, and for the health service in terms of costs. This article presents an easy classification of risk factors based on clinical background.

Nephrolithiasis: why doesn't our "learning" progress?

OBJECTIVE

Stone research is stagnant with minor clinical fall-out. We wonder whether this, in the ESWL era, depends only on ESWL and the consequent change in our clinical management habits, or is rather due to mistakes made by investigators. We feel that indeed we did and do make some: (1) the patients we are investigating may not be appropriate; and (2) we are missing to properly recognise disease heterogeneity.

CONCLUSIONS

From the public health side most likely we are not investigating the right patients, and we probably need to address the large part of the problem, i.e. the rarely relapsing stone formers demanding 80% of all urological interventions. Although there is a consensus that urolithiasis is very heterogeneous, this position is presently under reconsideration. It is necessary to investigate the single or "occasional" stone former, and go back to the epidemiology and clinics with multicentre, prospective studies. Being a multifactorial disease, we will need to evaluate as many aspects as possible contemporaneously in the same patient. It is also necessary to "revisit" the disease in an unbiased manner, because its relationship with relevant aspects could be different than previously thought due to our incomplete knowledge of its pathogenesis and pathophysiology.

Idiopathic calcium oxalate urolithiasis: risk factors and conservative treatment

Idiopathic calcium oxalate urolithiasis is a frequent and recurrent multifactorial disease. This review focuses on urinary and dietary risk factors for this disease and conservative strategies for rectifying them. Dietary oxalate and calcium and their respective urinary excretions have been extensively investigated during the last 10 years. Urinary oxalate has emerged as the most important determinant of calcium oxalate crystallization while the role of urinary calcium has shifted to bone balance and osteoporosis. Dietary calcium restriction increases urinary oxalate and contributes to a negative bone balance. It has therefore been abandoned as a means to reduce the risk of calcium oxalate kidney stone formation. Calcium oxalate kidney stone patients are advised to increase their fluid intake to achieve a urine volume of 2 l or more; the recommended calcium intake is 800-1200 mg/day; high oxalate foods should be restricted; daily protein intake should be between 0.8 and 1 g/kg body weight/day; essential fats should be included; vegetable and fruit (except oxalate-rich vegetables) intake should be increased. The use of calcium supplements has potential benefits but needs to be examined further.

The primary stone event: a new hypothesis involving a vascular etiology

PURPOSE

We detail a new hypothesis regarding a vascular phenomenon as the primary event in the formation of urolithiasis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A complete MEDLINE search was performed to examine the existing literature regarding the etiology of nephrolithiasis. In addition, urinary calculi were retrieved from 11 patients undergoing percutaneous nephrolithotomy and analyzed for total and esterified cholesterol content.

RESULTS

A review of the literature on stone disease revealed many factors inconsistent with the current paradigm of the initiation of nephrolithiasis. These arguments can be based and classified on epidemiological, clinical, physiological, anatomical, and molecular data. In our stone analysis free and esterified cholesterol were found in varying quantities between 0.058 and 2.258 microg/mg stone and 0.012 and 0.777 microg/mg stone, respectively. Esterified cholesterol was found to comprise 75% of total serum cholesterol. In urinary stones esterified cholesterol accounted for 14% to 16% of total cholesterol and the esterified-to-free cholesterol ratio appeared to be related to stone composition.

CONCLUSIONS

Numerous inconsistencies exist between current theories of the initial event in nephrolithiasis formation and empirical observational data on stone disease. Our review of the literature and our study of the cholesterol content of renal stones support a new theory regarding the initial stone forming event. We base this novel hypothesis on multiple epidemiological, physiological, anatomical and clinical observations. Further studies are required to confirm this hypothesis and its clinical usefulness.

Comparison of urine composition of healthy Labrador retrievers and miniature schnauzers

OBJECTIVE

To compare urine composition in Labrador Retrievers (LR) and Miniature Schnauzers (MS) fed the same dog food.

ANIMALS

8 healthy LR (mean [+/- SD] age, 3.1+/-1.7 years) and 8 healthy MS (mean age, 3.7+/-1.3 years).

PROCEDURE

A nutritionally complete dry dog food was fed to the dogs for 24 days. Urinary pH, volume, specific gravity, frequency of urination, and urinary concentrations of 12 analytes were measured for each dog; urinary relative supersaturation (RSS) with calcium oxalate and brushite (calcium hydrogen phosphate dihydrate) were calculated from these values.

RESULTS

MS urinated significantly less often and had a lower urine volume (ml/kg of body weight per d) and a significantly higher urine pH, compared with LR. Urinary calcium concentration and brushite RSS were significantly higher in the urine of MS. As a result of a high calorie requirement, primarily as a result of high surface area to volume ratio, MS had significantly higher intake (per kg body weight) of dietary minerals, compared with LR.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE

Differences in urine composition exist between breeds fed the same diet, some of which, including lower urine volume, higher calcium concentration, and higher brushite RSS, may contribute to the high prevalence of calcium oxalate uroliths observed in MS. Differences between breeds should be considered when evaluating strategies for controlling calcium oxalate stone formation.

Plasma phospholipid arachidonic acid content and calcium metabolism in idiopathic calcium nephrolithiasis

BACKGROUND

Reports of an increase in plasma and erythrocyte phospholipid arachidonic acid content and in urinary prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) excretion in patients with idiopathic calcium nephrolithiasis suggested their crucial role in the pathogenesis of hypercalciuria, a well-known risk factor for lithogenesis.

METHODS

To confirm this hypothesis, 15 healthy subjects and 20 nephrolithiasis patients were evaluated for plasma phospholipid polyunsaturated fatty acid content and PGE2 concentration, serum parathyroid hormone, 25 hydroxyvitamin D3, 1, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, and bone-specific alkaline phosphatase levels, as well as urinary excretion of calcium, biochemical markers of bone resorption (hydroxyproline and crossLaps), and intestinal calcium absorption. Furthermore, the effect of a 30-day fish-oil diet supplementation on the previously mentioned parameters was investigated in the patients.

RESULTS

At baseline, patients compared with controls showed higher levels of plasma phospholipid arachidonic acid content (P = 0.002), PGE2 (P = 0.0004), serum 25-vitamin D3 (P = 0.001), and 1,25-vitamin D3 (P = 0.001), urinary excretion of calcium (P = 0.001), hydroxyproline (P = 0.007), and crossLaps (P = 0.019), as well as intestinal calcium absorption (P = 0.03 at 60 min). Fish oil supplementation induced a reduction in the plasma phospholipid arachidonic acid level (P < 0.0001), and except for serum concentrations of 25-vitamin D3, normalized baseline blood and urinary parameters, including intestinal calcium absorption. A close correlation between plasma PGE2 and serum 1,25-vitamin D3 (P = 0.004) and between phospholipid arachidonic acid and intestinal calcium absorption (P = 0.0002) and calciuria (P = 0.007) was observed, as well as between urine excretion of crossLaps and hydroxyproline (P < 0.0001), crossLaps and calcium (P < 0.0001), and hydroxyproline and calcium (P < 0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS

These findings indicate that the phospholipid arachidonic acid content anomaly could represent the primary event responsible for the mosaic of metabolic and clinical alterations that are distinctive features of renal stone formers, and suggest that a common pathogenetic mechanism might account for the several forms of hypercalciuria detected in idiopathic calcium nephrolithiasis.

Metabolic evaluation and medical therapy for stone formation

There is little debate that nephrolithiasis is an increasing problem for public health. In the USA, the treatment of renal stone disease costs more than two billion dollars per year. The lack of prospective randomized trials reflects the problem of subjecting stone-formers to prospective studies and placebo treatment, and studies often use a single-group design. Nevertheless, investigation of metabolic abnormalities often makes the identification of an etiologic factor, and consequent treatment, possible, and stone formation can be reduced.