Microsoft Word - UIN003BF.rtf

Introduction The symposium was introduced by Boshamer (Wuppertal) by pointing to the necessity of the cooperation of all the disciplines, represented at the meeting, in the solution of the problem of urinary calculosis: clinical medicine, chemistry, colloidal chemistry, pathology and mineralogy. He then gave a historical review of the various theories, still current, as well as the problems they raise. As a mineralogist, von Philipsborn (Bonn) held that calculosis is purely a problem in crystallization, and rejected the view that the presence of organic material in calculi indicated that the latter was essential in stone formation. On the contray, he saw a syngenesis in which there was simultaneous excretion of crystalline and non-crystalline organic substances. Only in albumin calculi is there primary organic formation. Not the “protective colloids” but magnesium ions guarantee the solubility of calcium oxalate in urine. He discussed the theoretical composition of so-called carbonate apatite, and pointed out that in the structure of apatite, weddellite and whewellite other elements can substitute for calcium. He also described various mineralogical methods for the identification of the constituents of urinary calculi. Gasser (Vienna) gave a brief review of his work which has already appeared in the Ztschr. f. Urol. (49: 148,1956; 50:445, 1957). The papers are devoted to the methods of differentiating calculous components, and to studies of the matrix and the urinary colloids. Diurnal and nocturnal variations of urinary pH may account for variations in inorganic and organic layers. In the organic framework of calculi he found an almost constant content of definite proteids. Hermann (Homburg/Saar) reviewed the older studies on urinary proteids and then reported on his own research of urinary surface tension in the healthy and in the calculous patient. He questioned the action of the protective colloids in stabilizing the urine. Dulce (Berlin) also discussed this problem and his studies of the chemical composition of urinary colloids which led to results similar to those reported by Boyce and Mita, and Gasser and Mita. Unlike Gasser, he found that the matrix included the amino-acids, alanine and tryptophane. He emphasized that the carbo4 Introduction VII/1958 hydrate portion of the organic matrix of the urate stone differs distinctly from that of the calcium stone. Both the matrix of calcium calculi and the albumin stones of the renal pelvis have the same qualitative composition of amino-acids and carbohydrate. Especially long chromatography paper was used. As a colloidal chemist, Thiele (Kiel) discussed Boyce’s studies. He reported on calculous synthesis of micellar structures and inter-micellar crystallization. Mucopolysaccharides and proteins with reactive groups belong to the polyelectrolytes which, as anisometric colloids in the form of threads and platelets, carry ionic and reactive groups. Colloidal threads or platelets form gels and “galerts”: the condition of biologic, organic substances. Ionotropic gels with arranged thread-molecules are synthetic micellar structures. It is possible to imitate bone, for example, in