[Oxalobacter formigenes--characteristics and role in development of calcium oxalate urolithiasis]

Abstract

Microorganisms are one of the important factors for urinary calculi formation. While urease-positive bacteria and nanobacteria contribute to stone formation, Oxalobacter formigenes rods play a protective role against the development of urolithiasis. Proteus mirabilis alkaline environment of the urinary tract and cause crystallization mainly of struvite (magnesium ammonium phosphate). However, nanobacteria, due to the possibility of apatite deposition on the surface of their cells, have long been considered as an etiological factor of urinary calculi consisting of calcium phosphates. O. formigenes is an anaerobe using oxalate as the main source of carbon and energy and occurs as natural gastrointestinal microflora of humans and animals. These bacteria control the amount of oxalate excretion degrading oxalates and regulating their transport by intestinal epithelium. Lower colonization of the human colon by O. formigenes can cause increased oxalate excretion and lead to the development of oxalate urolithiasis. Due to the positive influence of O. formigenes, there is ongoing research into the use of this microorganism as a probiotic in the prophylaxis or treatment of hyperoxaluria, both secondary and primary. The results of these studies are very promising, but they still require continuation. Future studies focus on the exact characteristics of O. formigenes including their metabolism and the development of methods for applying as a therapeutic agent the bacteria or their enzymes degrading the oxalate.