Urolithiasis is one of the most common diseases of human urinal tract. Crystals of mineral origin have the propensities for renal calculi, or kidney stones formation. The reviewed example of these crystals is calcium oxalate monohydrate CaC2O4 H2O (COM) [1]. Nowadays the crystallization of COM under influence of various compounds that come to human organism with food is not fully studied and analyzed. Scientists are interested in impact on crystallization COM of amino acids, food supplements, and especially vitamins [2].
The main purpose of this work is modelling COM crystallization processes in simulated body fluid with presence of water-soluble vitamins B2, B3, and C and examining their influence on the nucleation processes, morphology, and size of COM crystals. The temperature during the experiments was 37°C, pH = 5.8, and I = 0.15 (NaCl).
The structure and the phase composition of the synthesized calcium oxalate precipitates were determined using the methods of X-ray phase analysis and IR spectroscopy. The morphology of the crystals was examined applying scanning electron microscopy. The crystallization kinetics for the model COM solutions was studied by measuring the solution turbidity.