Transmembrane oxalate exchange: its relationship to idiopathic calcium oxalate nephrolithiasis.

Red blood cell oxalate flux rates were measured in various populations of stone patients and controls. Idiopathic and normocalciuric stone patients and post-prostatectomy patients exhibited rates significantly greater than the nonstone controls. The fact that this abnormality was not limited to patients with calcium oxalate nephrolithiasis suggests that this cellular defect is not universal nor an important etiological factor for calcium oxalate nephrolithiasis.