Crystal accumulation and very high short-circuit currents in rabbit urinary bladder.

Abstract

We describe a condition in rabbits characterized by CaCO3 crystal accumulation and very high short-circuit current (Isc) in the urinary bladder. The incidence of the condition was high in rabbits kept for 2 mo or more in the vivarium. The crystal mass in the bladder increased with age or time until it occupied up to one-third of the bladder volume and occasionally aggregated as stones, and the urine attained a sludgy consistency. In animals with sludgy urine, the urine excreted had a crystal content 20 times lower than that of urine contained in the bladder at time of death, implying retention of crystals in the bladder. Kidney stones were not detected in rabbits with bladder crystals, and bladder crystals were absent in rabbits with kidney stones induced experimentally by uremia. In old rabbits with sludgy urine the Isc, a measure of Na+ transport, was up to 46 microA/cm2 and averaged 12 microA/cm2, seven times the Isc of rabbits with nonsludgy urine. The increased Isc was entirely amiloride sensitive. Noise analysis showed it to arise entirely from increased channel density, without change in single-channel current. With one possible exception, we could not find bacterial infection or abnormalities in plasma aldosterone, GFR, or urinary [Na+], [Ca2+], pH, or osmolality that could explain the condition. The exception is that some unidentified component accounting for half the osmolality of nonsludgy urine is absent or at low concentration in sludgy urine. It remains unknown why the condition develops and whether CaCO3 crystals cause high Isc or vice versa or whether both result from a third factor.