LOW-MOLECULAR-WEIGHT INHIBITOR OF IN-VITRO FIBROBLAST COLONY FORMATION FROM HUMAN URINE

The role of urinary toxins in interstitial cystitis (IC) has been sugg ested. This report describes the partial purification of a substance f rom human urine that inhibited in vine colony formation by mouse fibro blasts. Urine samples from 15 women with IC and 17 healthy women servi ng as volunteers were fractioned by ultrafiltration and chromatography methods and tested by the inhibition of Swiss 3T3 fibroblast colony f ormation. The fibroblasts were cultured at low density with varying co ncentrations of whole or fractioned urine. Colonies were counted at 10 days. Colony formation was reduced by incubation with whole urine, ul trafiltrate, and nonadsorbed C18 fractions. Inhibition of colony forma tion by urine from healthy volunteers or women with IC was not signifi cantly different. In vitro colony formation by Swiss 3T3 cells was inh ibited by a component of human urine. The toxicity of urine from IC pa tients was not different from that of urine from healthy controls.