Experimental obesity drug may prevent kidney stones: study

Scientists have found that a drug connected with fat regulation prevents the formation of kidney stones in mice.

The finding opens the possibility of developing drugs which may help prevent kidney stones in at-risk individuals.

The researchers gave 1mg/kg of the beta3- agonist CL316243 for 12 days. Then the mice, plus 20 controls, were then injected with glyoxylate, which causes the formation of kidney stones.

At various time points, the mice were then checked to see if they had formed stones: the formation of stones decreased to 17 per cent in the experimental group, compared with the controls.

"This is experimental work for now. But I believe that this may open the way to the development of the new drugs which can stop the development of kidney stones in at-risk people. So far we have only tested this on mice, but in mice it seems to work," said Teruaki Sugino from the Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences in Japan.

 

"We were able to analyse the biochemical differences between the control and experimental group, and discovered that the beta3-agonist reduced the expression of adipocytokine molecules, which are associated with inflammation," said Sugino.

The research was presented at the European Association of Urology Conference in Copenhagen.

Beta3-agonists are known to cause white fat cells (which are found in excess in overweight and obese persons) into beige fat cells, which burn extra calories, which is why these molecules are also being considered for anti-obesity uses.

The researchers suspect that beige cells consume free fatty acids, which may be the cause of inflammation in the kidneys leading to kidney stones. This means that beta3-agonists have the potential to prevent not only obesity but also kidney stones.

At present, potassium-sodium citrate drugs are used to restrict the development of kidney stones, but some people can't use these drugs because they need to limit their potassium or sodium intake.