The Role of Urinary Modulators in the Development of Infectious Kidney Stones
Abstract
The pathogenesis of infectious kidney stones is poorly understood, while equally unclear is the role of urinary modulators and bacteria. An experimental model was created and utilized to test a variety of urinary modulators and bacterial strains commonly associated with struvite and calcium phosphate stones to evaluate their potential roles in influencing crystal formation. Modulators such as acids, citrate, and osteopontin had strong inhibitory effects on infectious crystal formation while the remaining modulators had neutral, mixed, or positive effects. Lastly, it was determined that the presence of urease may not directly lead to calcium phosphate and struvite stones in all cases, and in the absence of urease, bacteria may promote calcium phosphate stone formation. Ultimately, this model will help to provide researchers with the ability to rapidly test a wider range of urinary modulators with infectious kidney stone formation and how they relate to individual bacterial species.