[Calcium and magnesium concentrations in "Healthy" and lithiasic human kidney (author's transl)]

Calcium and magnesium levels in the cortex, medulla, and papilla of human kidney from 32 so-called healthy patients and from eleven patients with calcium-oxalate lithiasis were determined by atom-absorption spectralphotometry. A positive calcium gradient with the highest calcium concentration in the papilla was found in all kidneys. Compared to the control group, that calcium concentration in the lithiasic kidneys was reduced by 50% in the papilla, but in the cortex and medulla, the levels were the same. A relative depletion of calcium in the papilla in hypercalciuria goes against the theory that the papilla is the main center of development of calcium-containing stones. The magnesium concentration was practically the same in cortex, medulla, and papilla, and no significant difference was found between lithiasic and healthy kidneys. These findings underline the central role of calcium in the genesis of calcium-containing stones.