Korean J Urol.  2007 May;48(5):512-516. 10.4111/kju.2007.48.5.512.

Association between Nanobacteria and Urinary Calcium Stone Disease

• Jeong BC
• Kim BS
• Kim HH

• KMID: 2061256
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4111/kju.2007.48.5.512

Abstract

PURPOSE: Nanobacteria have been reported to induce various pathologic calcifications like atherosclerosis and nephrolithiasis, and they do so by forming an apatite envelope, however, this concept is still controversial. We tried to elucidate whether nanobacteria might be related with urinary calcium stone by performing comparative study.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
This study included 38 urinary stone patients who were proved to have calcium-containing stones and 37 healthy adults without urinary stone disease as controls. The subjects' age and gender were well matched between both groups. For the detection of nanobacteria, the serum and urine of all subjects were collected and western blotting for the samples was performed.
RESULTS
There was no significant difference in the positive rate of nanobacteria from the serum samples between stone and control groups (52.6% vs 48.6%, respectively, p=0.465). But on the urine samples, the stone group showed a significantly higher positive rate than the control group (71.1% vs 21.6%, respectively, p<0.05).
CONCLUSIONS
Nanobacteria might have a relation with urinary calcium stone disease.

Keyword

Bacteria; Urolithiasis; Calcium

MeSH Terms

Adult
Atherosclerosis
Bacteria
Blotting, Western
Calcifying Nanoparticles*
Calcium*
Humans
Nephrolithiasis
Urinary Calculi
Urolithiasis
Calcifying Nanoparticles
Calcium

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 Western blot analysis of urine protein. Nanobacteria Western blot of urinary protein from stone patients and normal control showed a single band at 39kDa. The detection rate of nanobacteria in urine from stone group is higher than normal control. C1-3: control group, S1-4: stone group, L: ladder.

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