Shedding light on the chemical diversity of ectopic calcifications in kidney tissues: diagnostic and research aspects

In most industrialized countries, different epidemiologic studies show that chronic renal failure is dramatically increasing. Such major public health problem is a consequence of acquired systemic diseases such as type II diabetes, which is now the first cause for end stage renal failure. Furthermore, lithogenic diseases may also induce intratubular crystallization, which may finally result in end-stage renal failure (ESRF). Up to now, such rare diseases are often misdiagnosed. In this study, based on twenty four biopsies, we show that SR µFTIR (Synchrotron Radiation-µFourier transform infrared) spectroscopy constitutes a significant opportunity to characterize such pathological µcalcifications giving not only their chemical composition but also their spatial distribution in the tissues. This experimental approach offers new opportunities to the clinicians to describe at the cell level the physico-chemical processes leading to the formation of the pathological calcifications which lead to ESRF.