Chemical Tests for

Urine

Heat and Acetic

Acid Test
(Protein)

 Principle:
based
on precipitation
by
A. Heat
and
Acetic Acid
heat and coagulation by acids. (See
(Protein)
chapter 4)
Procedure:

Test

Fill test tube with urine (2/3 full)

centrifuge.
Heat the upper 2cm of the urine and
observe the cloudiness. (Due to
phosphates not albumin).
Add 2 to 3 drops of 10% acetic acid.
Cloudiness due to phosphates will
disappear.
Repeat the heating. Persistent cloudiness
indicates albumin. (Proteinuria)

 If cloudiness developed at 40-60 C and

disappears upon boiling but reappears
on cooling, the protein present is called
Bence-Jones protein. This protein is
encountered in:
Hyperglobulinemia -A condition
characterized by abnormally large
amounts of globulins in the blood. And
in
Multiple myeloma -also known as
plasma cell myeloma, is the secondmost common cancer of the blood.

Test for Sugar

(Benedicts Test)

 Principle: Reduction of
Cupric (blue) to Cuprous
(brick red) by the reducing
sugars.*
Procedure:
Place 5cc. Of Benedicts
reagent (Copper sulfate,
sodium carbonate, and
sodium citrate) in a test tube.
Add 8 to 10 drops of urine,
mix by shaking and boil
vigorously in water bath for
5mins.
Positive result: Brick red ppt.

Test For Bilirubin

(Foam Test)

 Principle: Bilirubin if present colors the foam

yellow to green.
Procedure:
Place 5ml urine in a test tube. Place cover.
Shake the urine vigorously for 3 mins.
If Bilirubin is present, the foam produced will have
a yellow to light green color.
In patients with proteinuria, bilirubin bound to
albumin can also appear in urine.*

Test For Blood

(Benzidine Test)

 Principle: The peroxide activity of the

blood decomposes hydrogen peroxide
and the liberated oxygen oxidizes the
benzidine.
Procedure:
Place 1cc of Benzidine solution in a test tube.
Add 0.5cc of urine which was previously
filtered.
Add 0.3cc of H2O2 to the mixture.
Mix and observe for a change in color.
Positive result: Green or blue color. (Hematuria)

Test For
Chlorides
(Fantus Test)

 Principle: AgNO3 reacts with the chloride

in urine to precipitate AgCl. Any excess
AgNO3 reacts with Potassium Chromate
to form reddish ppt. Of Ag2CrO4 . The
appearance of which indicates end
point.

 Procedure:
Place 10 drops of urine to a test tube and
one drop k2CrO4 solution as indicator.
Add drop by drop 2.9% AgNO3 solution
until a permanent red brown color (end
point) is developed.
The number of drops consumed
represent amount of chloride present.
Normally 6 to12 drops.
May indicate Hyperchloremia if it exceed 12.

Feces
Are food materials which
escaped the digestive
process and are passed
through the large intestine
to the outside.

Composition of Feces
Indigestible and
unabsorbed food
residue. Eg. Vegetable
fibers, muscle fibers,
iron compounds,
calcium salts.
Secretions from
gastro intestinal tract.
Eg. Lipids

Excreted materials
like mucous and bile
pigments.
Bacteria like Esheria
Coli.
Ephithelial cells and
other pathological
constituents like
blood and pus.

Physical Characteristics
Color
Adult fecal material is normally brown in color.
Thus this attributed to hydrobilirubin
(reduced) and storcobilin (from bile
pigments).

 But, the colors are dependent upon the

nature of the diet, and also upon certain
drugs.
Examples:
Yellow- milk diet
Dark gray- Chocolate
Dark green- Spinach; calomel due to
biliverdin*.
Dark brown or black- Bismuth and Iron
compounds
Red- Neoprontosil
Clay color- connected with X-ray
examinations

 Abnormal Colors (pathological)

Golden yellow- due to unchanged
bilirubin
Green- Diarrhea of children with faulty
carbohydrate metabolism
Clay color- Deficiency in bile; observed
in conditions such as jaundice when
there is obstruction of the bile duct so
that bile cannot reach the intestine.
Red streaks of blood- can be due to
bleeding hemorrhoids. Can also be
carcinoma* and other lesions of the
rectum or anus.

 Odor
The offensive odor is due to indole and
skatole*
Other gases contributing to the odor
includes methane and hydrogen sulfide.
Offensive odor is accentuated by a diet
consisting largely of meat.
Very foul odor may suggest ulceration in the
intestines or rectum. Also observed in
cancer, syphilis and gangrenous dysentery.*

 Reaction
Normal reaction is slightly acidic or
slightly alkaline
It is acidic when there is predominance
of carbohydrate food in the diet; alkaline
when there excess of protein material.
This reaction can be tested with litmus
paper or alizarin indicator

 Form and consistency

These vary from a thin pastry discharge
to a firmly formed stools.
However, these again may vary
depending upon the condition of the
individual and his diet.

 Variations in the form and consistency

which are pathological includes:
Soft or watery stools- indicates diarrhea or
administration of cathartics
Very hard- indicates constipation
Hard Rounded Scybalous- Atony of the colon
as in infection of the appendix.
Flattened ribbon-like stools- obstruction of
the colon. (may indicate colon cancer).

 Amount
About 80 to 200 grams per day are
eliminated
Usually it is eliminated together with
variable amounts of gases such as:

Hydrogen- when milk predominates the diet

Methane- vegetable diet
Nitrogen- meat or mixed diet
In all cases CO2 and H2S are present

The bulk increases if large amounts of

vegetable is present in the diet.

Chemical Tests