Heavy Metal Quantification in Renal Tissue of Patients in the State of Yucatan and Its Association with Urolithiasis

A possible cause associated with urinary lithiasis (UL) is the bioaccumulation of heavy metals in the kidney. The aim of this study was to evaluate the content of Cu, Pb, and Cd in kidney tissues removed from patients with nephrological problems and associate it with UL. Samples of 50 kidney sections from patients were analyzed. Results were statistically analyzed using a fixed effects model including the overall mean, the effect of the health status of patients (with or without UL), gender (male and female), the interaction between both factors and the random error (NID  (0, σ (2))). Cu level was 8.8 ± 4.4 mg/kg (mean ± DS) and 25.5% of samples had levels above normal. Lead content in 97.9% of the samples (3.6 ± 1.5 mg/kg) was above normal. All results of Cd (13.2 ± 16.6 mg/kg) were below the maximum permissible limits. There was no difference in the amount of heavy metals on patients with or without UL (P > 0.05) nor depending on the gender (P > 0.05). It was concluded that there is no apparent relationship between a very elevated level of Cu or Pb in the kidney on the development of UL.