Reversal of vitamin-D2-induced hypercalciuria by chlorothiazide

To test the effects of chlorothiazide on vitamin-D2-induced hypercalciuria, we carried out 17 metabolic studies lasting 12 days each in adult Sprague-Dawley male rats. Three groups were studied: (A) control rats receiving only the vitamin-D2 vehicle; (B) vitamin-D2-treated rats receiving 50 IU/day; and (C) rats treated in the same manner as group B with the addition of chlorothiazide 20 mg/day for the last 6 days of the study. Urine was collected during the last 3 days, and a blood sample was obtained at the end of each study period. Analysis of the data showed that there were no significant differences between the groups in changes of serum calcium concentration (A, 6.1 +/- 0.1 mg/dl; B, 6.1 +/- 0.2 mg/dl; C, 6.0 +/- 0.2 mg/dl), serum creatinine concentration (A, 0.5 +/- 0.07 mg/dl; B, 0.52 +/- 0.08 mg/dl; C, 0.48 +/- 0.04 mg/dl), and creatinine clearance (A, 4.8 +/- 0.7 ml/min/kg; B, 5.2 +/- 1.2 ml/min/kg; C, 4.9 +/- 0.5 ml/min/kg). The administration of vitamin-D2 significantly increased the urinary calcium excretion from 6.7 +/- 1.0 mg/kg/day to 19.5 +/- 9.7 mg/kg/day (p less than 0.02), but the calciuria was inhibited in group C rats by the addition of chlorothiazide, which restored urinary calcium excretion to 6.8 +/- 2.5 mg/kg/day (p less than 0.02). Evaluation of the ratio of calcium/creatinine excretion (A, 0.19 +/- 0.03; B, 0.53 +/- 0.25; C, 0.20 +/- 0.07) and calcium/sodium excretion (A, 0.22 +/- 0.05; B, 0.48 +/- 0.25; C, 0.19 +/- 0.04) further confirmed these effects of vitamin-D2 and chlorothiazide on urine calcium excretion. We conclude that in rats conventional doses of vitamin-D2 consistently induce marked hypercalciuria, even without hypercalcemia, and that this hypercalciuria can be effectively prevented by chlorothiazide.