Fibrous Melamine-Cyanuric Acid and Melamine-Uric Acid Complexes on Glass Substrates

Since the 2007 incident on the incident of renal failure and death of animals in USA due to the imported pet food and the 2008 incident of melamine in baby formulae in China, melamine has attracted a lot of attention from public to academic. In the incidents, renal stones of melamine-cyanuric acid (also written as melaminecyanurate) complex and melamine-uric acid (also called melamineurate) complex were found. In this case report, the first observation of fibrous structure of melamine-cyanurate crystals using the scanning electronic microscopy technique is reported. Based on the observation, it is hypothesized that fibrous structures may also persist and accumulate in the kidneys and lead to the formation of calculus and contribute to the renal failure as those crystal depositions.