Importance of oxalate precursors for oxalate metabolism in rats

Three metabolic precursors of oxalate were compared after intravenous administration to rats by measuring the urinary excretion of oxalate and related substances using capillary electrophoresis. Urine specimens were collected hourly from eight male Wistar rats (approximately 200 g) in each group. Glyoxylate (2 mg), glycolate (10 mg), and hydroxypyruvate (100 mg) were almost equally oxalogenic based on urinary oxalate excretion, with 22.0, 6.1, and 0.4% of the respective doses being converted into oxalate, 3, 8.9, and 0.2% into glycolate, and 1, 0.1, and 0.003% into glyoxylate. The mean urinary excretion of oxalate peaked between 1 and 2 h, while that of glycolate peaked at 1 h. The baseline urinary excretion of glycolate and glyoxylate was 0.11 to 0.24 micromol/h and 0.0 to 8.3 nmol/h, respectively, and all three agents caused a significant increase of urinary glycolate excretion for 2 to 3 h. Only glyoxylate administration increased urinary glyoxylate excretion at 1 h. Hydroxypyruvate administration significantly increased urinary hydroxypyruvate, glycerate, and citrate excretion at 1 to 2 h. The increase of urinary citrate excretion remains to be explained.