This study evaluated urine concentrations of glycosaminoglycans, Tamm-Horsfall glycoprotein and nephrocalcin in 10 cats fed a diet formulated to prevent calcium oxalate uroliths. In a previous study, the cats were sequentially fed two diets: the one each cat was consuming prior to urolith detection and a diet formulated to prevent calcium oxalate uroliths. Each diet was fed for eight weeks, then a urine sample was collected. Concentrations of glycosaminoglycans, Tamm-Horsfall glycoprotein and the four isoforms of nephrocalcin in urine samples collected during that previous study were measured in the study reported here.
Diet had no effect on the quantity of Tamm-Horsfall glycoprotein and nephrocalcin in urine. However, the urine concentration of glycosaminoglycans was significantly higher during consumption of the urolith prevention diet.
Feeding a urolith prevention diet increased the urine concentration of glycosaminoglycans, which are glycoprotein inhibitors of growth and aggregation of calcium oxalate crystals.
Source : J.P. Lulich et al., 2012. Effects of a urolith prevention diet on urine compositions of glycosaminoglycans, Tamm-Horsfall glycoprotein, and nephrocalcin in cats with calcium oxalate urolithiasis. AVJR 73: 447-451. doi: 10.2460/ajvr.73.3.447
