Determination of urinary oxalate with commercially available oxalate oxidase

For this direct colorimetry of urinary oxalate, commercially available oxalate oxidase (EC 1.2.3.4) is used. The urine is first diluted, to diminish the effect of interfering substances. Analytical recovery of oxalate from urines with five different oxalate concentrations (0.4 to 2.0 mmol/L) ranged from 92 to 109% (mean 99%). The within-day and between-day precision (CV) of the method for a wide range of oxalate concentrations averaged better than 10%. There is good correlation (r = 0.977) between this enzymatic method (y) and the chemical method of Hodgkinson and Williams (x) [Clin Chim Acta 36: 127-132, 1972], the regression equation being y = 1.014x + 0.061. Urines with added ascorbate give falsely increased results. The proposed method is inexpensive and simple to perform.