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Urinary acidification, bone metabolism and urinary excretion of calcium and citrate were evaluated in 10 recurrent stone formers with incomplete renal tubular acidosis (iRTA), 10 recurrent stone formers with normal urinary acidification (NUA) and 10 normal controls (NC). Patients with iRTA had lower plasma standard bicarbonate after fasting (P < 0.01) and lower urinary excretion of titratable acid (P < 0.05) and citrate (P < 0.01) compared with NUA patients and NC, and higher urinary excretion of ammonia (P < 0.05) compared with NC (P < 0.05). Hypercalciuria was found in 6 of 10 patients with iRTA compared with 3 of 10 with NUA, and 0 of 10 NC. The citrate/calcium ratio in urine was significantly reduced in iRTA compared with the value in NUA (P < 0.01), and in NUA compared with NC (P < 0.05). Biochemical markers of bone formation (serum osteocalcin) and bone resorption (urinary hydroxyproline) were significantly increased in iRTA compared with NUA and NC (P < 0.01), indicating increased bone turnover in stone formers with iRTA. Stone formers with iRTA thus presented with disturbed calcium, bone and citrate metabolism--the same metabolic abnormalities which characterize classic type 1 RTA. Mild non-carbonic acidosis during fasting may be a pathophysilogical factor of both nephrolithiasis and disturbed bone metabolism in stone formers with iRTA.

A low-cost technique for studies of mineral and net base balance in rodents is described. Metabolic units of plexiglass, modifiable according to special needs, were found to perform satisfactorily in short-term as well as in long-term studies. Young Wistar rats showed normal growth rate, and adult non-growing rats showed mineral and net base balances close to zero.