The absorptive or renal origin of hypercalciuria can be discriminated using an acute oral calcium load test (ACLT). Of 86 patients with calcium oxalate kidney stones, 28 (23%) were found to be hypercalciuric (HCa) and 58 (67%) normocalciuric (NCa) on their customary free diet, containing 542 +/- 29 mg/day (mean +/- SE) of calcium. Since the apparently normal 24-hour calcium excretion of many calcium stone formers (CSF) may be due to a combination of high calcium absorption with moderately low calcium intake, all patients were investigated by ACLT. Of 28 HCa patients, 13 (46%) were classified as absorptive (AH) and 15 (54%) as renal hypercalciuria (RH). Of the 58 NCa patients, 38 (65%) presented features of intestinal hyperabsorption and were therefore designated as AH-like, and 20 (35%) as RH-like. To further elucidate the role of dietary calcium in these CSF, a chronic calcium load test (CCLT), consisting of 1 g/day of oral Ca for 7 days, was designed. A positive response to the CCLT was considered to occur when urinary calcium (uCa) was > or = 4 mg/ kg/24 h on the 7th day. Among NCa patients, 29% of AH-like subjects responded to the CCLT and 71% did not; 50% of RH-like subjects also responded and 50% did not. In HCa patients, 85% of AH and 67% of RH subjects maintained uCa > or = 4 mg/kg/24 h after the CCLT and 15% of AH and 23% of RH subjects did not. However, a significant additional increase in mean uCa was not observed among HCa patients. All patients were submitted to a second evaluation of fasting calciuria (Ca/Cr). A modification of this parameter was noticed in 89% of RH-like and 78% of RH patients. In conclusion, these data suggest the presence of subpopulations of patients sensitive or not to calcium intake, regardless of whether the acute response to a calcium overload test suggested AH or RH. The CCLT disclosed dietary hypercalciuria in 21/58 (36%) of previously NCa patients. In these NCa patients, the ACLT may be replaced by the CCLT. The distinction between AH and RH initially evidenced by the ACLT was not further confirmed. These data suggest that either fasting Ca/Cr is not adequate for subclassification of HCa or that AH and RH represent a different spectrum of the same disease, and that a primary resorptive component should also be considered.