We examined whether high flux membranes (HF) may induce a greater loss of amino acids compared to low flux membranes (LF). Ten hemodialysis patients participated in this study. Pre- and post-hemodialysis plasma amino acid profiles were measured by reverse-phase high pressure liquid chromatography for both HF and LF. We measured the dialysate amino acid losses during hemodialysis. The reduction ...

Recent work has shown that the dialyzer mass transfer area coefficient (Ko A) for urea increases when the dialysate flow rate is increased from 500 to 800 mL/min. In this study we determined urea and creatinine clearances for two commercial dialyzers containing polysulfone hollow fibers in vitro at 37°C, a nominal blood flow rate of 300 mL/ min, and dialysate flow rates (Qd ) ranging from 100 t...

BACKGROUND Increases in plasma anaphylatoxins frequently are used as an index of haemodialysis membrane biocompatibility; however, their plasma levels may be influenced by the loss of anaphylatoxins into the dialysate compartment. METHODS We compared the generation and compartmental distribution of anaphylatoxins, C3a and C5a, in a high flux and a low flux polysulfone membrane dialyser when w...

Hypoxemia during hemodialysis: Effects of different membranes and dialysate compositions. Arterial oxygen tension (Pa02) and white blood cell (WBC) count decrease during hemodialysis (HD) when certain types of membranes are used. Two mechanisms, impaired gas exchange due to intrapulmonary leucostasis and alveolar hypoventilation, have been proposed. To gain more insight into their respective ro...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Ultrafiltration that occurs during hemodialysis (HD) promotes profound alterations in a relatively short period of time. The dialysate content of bicarbonate (DBic) and potassium (DK) may have impact over intradialytic hemodynamics, which goes beyond ultrafiltration, and its impact was evaluated in a prospective cohort. METHODS 30 patients under HD were submitted to hemodynami...

Because of the many potent biological capabilities of the blood granulocytes, and their contact with platelets in various physiologic and pathologic states, a possible interaction between granulocytes and platelets was investigated. Platelets were purified by gel filtration and via a dialysis membrane were separated from suspensions of autologous granulocytes prepared by dextran sedimentation a...

BACKGROUND Although various inflammatory mediators have been previously shown to be released into the peritoneal cavity during peritonitis in peritoneal dialysis patients, those that are involved in governing changes in peritoneal permeability to small solutes and protein remain incompletely defined. METHODS We determined the importance of prostanoid production in the enhanced protein loss ob...