The renal handling of oxalate was studied by the injection of 14C-oxalate together with inulin as a glomerular marker into the renal artery in 6 patients. From the recovered amounts of the injected substances in the urine, time-concentration curves were constructed. Oxalate was excreted into urine 2.31 +/- 0.05 (SE) fold when compared to inulin. The maximal concentration of oxalate occurred at the same time as inulin, and there was no urinary precession of oxalate in comparison to inulin. From this part of the study we conclude that oxalate in addition to its filtered amount can probably enter the early part of nephron. In a second type of study, plasma levels of oxalate and inulin were observed over a period of 180 min, following intravenous injections in 7 volunteers. The decline of oxalate plasma concentrations followed first-order kinetics. Calculation of the rate constants of elimination assuming the 'one compartment open' model resulted in an oxalate to inulin ratio of 1.21 +/- 0.05. The oxalate half-life of elimination was 92 +/- 8 min, whereas that of inulin amounted to 112 +/- 9 min. The higher value of the calculated volume of distribution of oxalate compared to that of inulin indicates that oxalate enters a larger space than the extracellular fluid volume. The urinary recovery of intravenously injected oxalate was 97.2 +/- 1.4%, indicating that oxalate is excreted exclusively by the kidney. The observed differences of oxalate excretion, obtained with these two methods, could be attributed to the higher amount of ionized oxalate in the disequilibrium technique (rapid injections), entering the urine in a higher rate. Such a mechanism could explain the hyperoxaluria in calcium oxalate stone-forming patients.