Components of Urinary Crystallites in Urine of Uric Acid Stone Formers and Its Relationship with Formation of Stones

The components, zeta potential, morphology of nanocrystallites in urines of 10 uric acid stone formers as well as their relationship with the formation of uric acid stones were comparatively studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, nanoparticle size analyzer, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The urine pH of uric acid stone formers was relatively low within the range of 4. 8 to 5. 7. The main constituent of urinary crystallites was uric acid. Their particle size distribution was highly uneven, ranging from several nanometers to several tens of micrometers, and obvious aggregation was observed. The zeta potential of urinary crystallites in ten lithogenic patients was -6.02 mV, which was higher than that in ten normal subjects (-10. 1 mV). After drug therapies (potassium citrate was taken), the urine pH value of the uric acid stone formers increased to 6. 5 or so, and at this pH value most of the uric acid had changed to urate. Since the solubility of urate increased greatly than uric acid, the risk of the formation of uric acid stone reduced. The results in this paper showed that there was a close relationship among stone components, urinary crystallites composition and urine pH.