Anisotropic lipids and urinary cholesterol excretion.

Abstract

IT IS WIDELY APPRECIATED that urinary anisotropic lipid bodies are of diagnostic importance in the nephrotic syndrome. Detailed descriptions of these structures are lacking, however, and it is assumed that any highly refractile, anisotropic body displaying the Maltese cross under polarized light has diagnostic significance. Routine polariscopic examination of urine sediments, including those from normal subjects, disclosed the frequent occurrence of pseudoanisotropic bodies displaying the characteristic black Maltese cross. True and pseudoanisotropic lipid bodies were quantitated and correlated with urinary protein and cholesterol excretion and with serum protein and lipids in normal controls and in patients with various types of renal disease. The study of urinary cholesterol excretion utilizing an ultramicrotechnique was of considerable interest when compared with the values obtained with previous techniques. Methods The present study is based on 439 urine examinations in 130 individuals. These included 16 normal controls, 3 nonrenal hypercholesteremic controls, 21 patients with