Abstract
The study was conducted to investigate the effect of vitamin A, B1 and B6 deficiency on oxalate metabolism in rats. A significant hyperoxaluria was the common observation in all the three vitamin deficiencies (vitamin B6> vitamin A > vitamin B1). The activities of hepatic glycolate oxidase and glycolate dehydrogenase were markedly enhanced in vitamin-A- and vitamin-B6-deficient rats. However, lactate dehydrogenase levels remained unaltered in these deficiencies as compared to their respective pair-fed controls. Vitamin B1 deficiency of 4 weeks’ duration could augment the activity of glycolate oxidase only, with no alterations in the glycolate dehydrogenase and lactate dehydrogenase levels. Intestinal oxalate uptake studies revealed increased bio-availability of oxalate from the gut in vitamin-A- and vitamin-B6-deficient rats. Thus, the results suggest the relative contribution of both exogenous as well as endogenous oxalate in the process of calculogenesis under various nutritional stress conditions in rat.