Determination of urinary hexosamines for diagnosis of bladder pain syndrome.

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: Bladder pain syndrome (BPS) is a chronic disease characterized by urgency, bladder pain, and frequency, and urinary glycosaminoglycans are thought to reflect bladder epithelial deficiency in BPS. Sensitive and specific evaluation of total urinary glycosaminoglycans may be useful for the clinical diagnosis of BPS and its treatment.

METHODS

A procedure for the simultaneous determination of glucosamine and galactosamine produced from urinary glycosaminoglycans has been performed in BPS patients and healthy subjects.

RESULTS

The total content of urinary hexosamines in BPS patients significantly increased by ~130% with the increase in glucosamine greater than galactosamine.

CONCLUSIONS

A significant increase in total hexosamines content and in particular in glucosamine belonging to urinary heparan sulfate was determined in BPS patients compared with controls. We propose HS and in particular its low-molecular mass fragments and glucosamine assay as useful markers for a biochemical diagnosis of BPS and for monitoring this syndrome.