Concentration gradient of oxalate from cortex to papilla in rat kidney.

Background: The kidney eliminates the major fraction of plasma oxalate. It is well known that oxalate is freely filtered by glomeruli and secreted by the proximal tubules. However, the renal handling of oxalate in distal nephrons, which is considered as playing an important role in stone formation, remains obscure.

The preventive effect of sodium pentosan polysulfate against renal stone formation in hyperoxaluric rats.

Sodium pentosan polysulfate (SPP), a semi-synthetic glycosaminoglycan, was administered to rats with hyperoxaluria, induced by a vitamin B6 deficient diet, as a model of calcium oxalate stone formation. We studied the preventive effects of SPP on stone formation as well as its inhibitory effects on stone growth by autoradiography and radioluminography after intravenous injection of (14)C-oxalate. The rats were divided into non-treated and SPP-treated groups.