Dietary therapy for urolithiasis is a useful methodology for preventing stone recurrence in patients, and restriction of sodium intake is commonly known to reduce urinary sodium and calcium levels, and eventually oxalate excretion, which are risk factors for patients with calcium-containing renal stones. 1 As highlighted in the latest guidelines published by the Urological Association of Asia, clinicians should recommend that patients restrict their sodium intake with the appropriate intake of dietary calcium. 2 In addition, sodium is known to be associated with the development of cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease and osteoporosis. 3 There are several mechanisms through which sodium plays a role in facilitating these diseases; however, the fundamental influence of sodium on urolithiasis has not yet been fully investigated. Amongst the physiologically proven clinical evidence in the literature, 1 only one study used a pediatric mouse model to show that the high sodium and fructose-containing Western diet could worsen the urinary parameters for stone formation. 4 However, the study failed to prove a direct link between dietary intake and urolithiasis risk due to a lack of renal stone development in mice.Here, Nakazawa et al. interestingly reported an experimental nephrocalcinosis, induced by a high-sodium diet, with hyperoxaluria and hypercalciuria status in a rat model. 5 Their study showed that high-sodium intake caused not only the increase of urinary sodium, calcium and oxalate excretion, but also the increase of AP(CaOx), which resulted in the development of renal crystal deposits. More importantly, pathway analysis showed that nuclear factor-jB, protein kinase B and mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways, with alternating renal expression levels of arachidonate 15-lipoxygenase, ceruloplasmin, matrix metallopeptidase-7, claudin 10 and uromodulin derived by high-sodium intake, contributed to crystal formation. In addition, this experiment proved the suppressive role of eplerenone in crystal development, through an anti-oxidative effect by reducing renal transforming growth factor-b expression. These impressive results verify the clinical evidence that dietary sodium intake increases the risk for urolithiasis. Although this in vivo study might have limitations, such as the fundamental differences between urolithiasis in patients and nephrocalcinosis in a rat model, as well as a small sample volume for genomic examination, it provides essential findings for better understanding urolithiasis pathogenesis. References 1 Afsar B, Kiremit MC, Sag AA et al. The role of sodium intake in nephrolithiasis: epidemiology, pathogenesis, and future directions. Eur. J. Intern. Med. 2016; 35: 16-9. 2 Taguchi K, Cho SY, Ng AC et al. The Urological Association of Asia clinical guideline for urinary stone disease. Int. J. Urol. 2019; 26: 688-709. 3 MacGregor GA. Salt-more adverse effects. Am. J. Hypertens. 1997; 10: 37S-41S. 4 Ross SS, Masko EM, Abern MR et al. The effect of dietary sodium and fructose intake on uri...