USE OF HYALURONIDASE TO PREVENT URINARY CALCULI

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Abstract
In 1951 Butt reported clearance of turbidity of the urine of persons predisposed to calculus formation after the subcutaneous injection of the enzyme hyaluronidase. In 1952 the same author, in association with Häuser and Seifter, published further studies on the mechanism of this phenomenon and also reported its use in the prevention of recurrence of urinary calculi. It was stated that the subcutaneous injection of hyaluronidase results in the release of hyaluronic acid from the subcutaneous connective tissues and its excretion in the urine in a degraded or hydrolyzed form in which the individual particles act as protective colloids. The protective colloid "not only disperses crystalline matter already present but also inhibits the formation and growth of new crystalline matter." The importance of the urinary colloids in increasing the solubility of the stone-forming crystalloids has been debated for many years. What the proponents of the colloid theory were able to