Vol.2, No.1, 67-71 (2012) Open Journal of Preventive Medicine http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojpm.2012.21010 Inhibition of calcium oxalate nephrotoxicity with Zamzam water Saeed S. Al-Ghamdi Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; dr.s.s.alghamdi@gmail.com Received 12 October 2011; revised 20 November 2011; accepted 16 December 2011 ABSTRACT Zamzam water is well known of its high conduc- tivity. For this fact urologist and nephrologists re- commend their patients who are suffering from kidney stones not to drink this water because it could worse their health status. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of Zamzam wa- ter on calcium oxalate nephrotoxicity in experi- mentally induced kidney stones in male Wistar albino rats. Calcium oxalate crystals were induced by orally administration of 200 mg of glycolic acid dissolved in the drinking water. The rats were di- vided into three groups; six rats each. These in- clude positive control group (given glycolic acid), test group (given glycolic acid plus Zamzam wa- ter) and negative group (given drinking water only). After two weeks of treatment, blood analy- sis of blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine showed significant differences in positive con- trol group compared to the negative control group, whereas no significant differences were noticed in the level of BUN and creatinine between both the negative control and the test group. More- over, urine analysis showed a high density of calcium oxalate crystals in the positive control group, whereas no crystals were detected in the negative control and the test groups. Histopa- thological investigations showed damaging in kidneys of the positive control group with no tissue abnormalities in the negative control and the test group. I concluded from this study that Zamzam water prevents the formation calcium oxalate stone, which probably mean that it has no negative effect on patients suffering from kidney disorders due to crystals formation. Keywords: Zamzam Water; Calcium Oxalate; Nephrotoxicity 1. INTRODUCTION Zamzam water is located inside the Holy Mosque at about 20 meters east of the Ka’ba in Makkah Al-Mukarra- mah, Saudi Arabia. The well of Zamzam is hand-excavated and is about 30.5 m deep, with an internal diameter rang- ing from 1.08 to 2.66 meters. Zamzam water is different from other water in many ways: first no bacteria can form at its source. Second it doesn’t go mouldy nor does it change colour, taste or smell [1]. Bio- logical growth and vegetation usually take place in most wells. This makes water unpalatable owing to the growth of algae leading to changes in taste and odour. However, in Zamzam water well, there isn’t any sign of biological growth [2]. The Chemical analysis of Zamzam water contains some inorganic elements such as sodium (Na), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), potassiumn (K), bicarbonate (HCO 3 ), chloride (Cl), fluoride (Fl), nitrate ( ), sulfate (SO 4 ), and totally dissolved salts (TDS) [3]. – 3 NO Renal calculi are formed when the urine is supersatura- ted with salt and minerals such as calcium oxalate, stru- vite (ammonium magnesium phosphate), uric acid and cys- tine [4]. In most types of kidney stones, calcium oxalate crystals are found to be the main constituent. The preva- lence of calcium oxalate crystals has been constantly in- creasing during past fifty years in industrialized as well as in developing countries and varied depending on race, sex and geographic locations. Although kidney stones can be traced to the earliest antiquity of human history, the primary causative factors remain obscure. It is suspected that kidney stones have direct relationship to the compo- sition of urine, which depends on the patients’ habits [5,6]. This study was conducted to illustrate the effects of Zamzam water on experimentally induced renal in animal model. 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS 2.1. Urine Analysis Eighteen male Wistar albino rats weighted between 350 to 410 g were used in the experiments. Rats were divided into three groups: positive control, negative con- trol and test group as 6 rats/group. Each rat placed inde- pendently in a metabolic cage. Copyright © 2012 SciRes. OPEN ACCESS