|
 |
| LETTER TO THE EDITOR |
|
| Year : 2012 | Volume
: 4
| Issue : 3 | Page : 195 |
|
|
Urinary pH, melamine, and kidney stone formation
Somsri Wiwanitkit, Viroj Wiwanitkit
Wiwanitkit House, Bangkhae, Bangkok, Thailand
| Date of Web Publication | 18-Oct-2012 |
Correspondence Address:
Somsri Wiwanitkit
Wiwanitkit House, Bangkhae, Bangkok, Thailand 10160
Thailand
  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/0974-7796.102678 PMID: 23248531 
How to cite this article:
Wiwanitkit S, Wiwanitkit V. Urinary pH, melamine, and kidney stone formation. Urol Ann 2012;4:195 |
Sir,
A recent publication on urinary pH, melamine, and kidney stone formation is very interesting. [1] Lu et al. reported "an association of gender and urinary pH with melamine-associated kidney stone formation risk". [1] This can be useful epidemiological information. However, some facts of medical biochemistry should be discussed. The reported pH in this publication is not clear. Only a value of < and ≥6.5 can be read. Indeed, the correlation can be directly assessed by the correlation study between the exact urine pH value and solubility. Based on chemical structure, melamine is a base and increases solubility in acidic conditions (very good if pH is lower than 4). [2] However, it is a fact that the range of human urine pH is not wide (4.5-8); hence, the solubility of melamine might be affected slightly.
 References | |  |
| 1. | Lu X, Wang J, Cao X, Li M, Xiao C, Yasui T, et al. Gender and urinary pH affect melamine-associated kidney stone formation risk. Urol Ann 2011;3:71-4. 
[PUBMED]  |
| 2. | WHO. Background Paper on the Chemistry of Melamine Alone and in Combination with Related Compounds. Available online at www.who.int/entity/foodsafety/fs_management/Melamine_2.pdf.
|
|
