Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Acidification of urine

I was requested to do a blog post on acidification of urine too.. So here it goes!

How do you acidify urine?
You can acidify urine by administrating NH4Cl, Vitamin C or cranberry juice.
Another drug used is lysine dihydrochloride.
Foods can acidify the urine too. (Foods like plums, prunes, meats, cheeses, eggs, fish, and grains!)

Uses of acidification of urine -

• To promote antibacterial action of methenamine in urine
Below pH 5.5, methenamine releases formaldehyde, which is antibacterial.
Acidifying agents are given with methenamine to lower urinary pH.
(That is why, microorganisms such as proteus that make a strongly alkaline urine through release of ammonia from urea are usually resistant to methenamine :O )

• Prevention of calcium phosphate renal stones
An alkaline pH favors the crystallization of calcium- and phosphate-containing stones hence acidification of urine will prevent the formation of these stones.

 Remember the formation of which stones are promoted due to acidification of urine?
 If you're thinking uric acid or cystine stones, you're absolutely right, give yourself a pat on the back! :D

Also note that - 

Acidification of urine effects excretion of a number of weak bases and tertiary amines such as cocaine, amphetamines, quinine, quinidine, strychinine, chloroquine and ephedrine.
Forced acid diuresis is rarely done in clinical practice >_>

Did you know?
Contrary to popular belief, vinegar (acetic acid) is not given orally for acidification of urine.
Vinegar is used for bladder irrigation.

That's all!
Merry Christmas ^___^
-IkaN

Related post: Alkalinization of urine


4 comments:

  1. Concise, simple and well-laid out facts! Thank you for taking the time, your posts are excellent :)

    -R

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great posts. Can you please add the scientific literature that support each claim? It helps as reference and credibility. Thanks for the reviews. Dr. Adonis https://www.linkedin.com/in/adonismaiquezmd

    ReplyDelete

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