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Updated: Nov 23, 2025

Estimation of Urinary Nanocrystals in Humans using Calcium Fluorophore Labeling and Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis
Published on: February 9, 2021
Advances in the identification of calcium carbonate urinary crystals
Vincent Frochot1, Vincent Castiglione2, Ivan T Lucas3
1Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Université Paris-6, UMR S 1155, Paris, France; INSERM, UMR S 1155, Paris, France; AP-HP, Hôpital Tenon, Service d'explorations fonctionnelles multidisciplinaires, Paris-6, France.
Abstract:
The examination of the urinary sediment of a 64-year-old woman showed the presence of three different types of crystals, all with unusual morphology, which could not be identified with bright field microscopy, polarized light, and the knowledge of urine pH (7.5). The use of microscopic infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy led to the identification of the three types of crystals as calcite, vaterite and aragonite, which are all variants of calcium carbonate crystals. This paper confirms the complex morphology and nature that urinary crystals may at times have and the utility of advanced infrared spectroscopy techniques for their identification.
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