Original article
English
Abdulgader S. Ali 1, Mutwakil G. Ahmed 2
1-Department of Biochemistry,Faculty of Medicine, Sebha University,Sebha. Libya. 2-Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Sebha University. Sebha. Libya.
Sebha Univ. J. Med. Sci. 2002, Vol. 3(1):39-43
Abstract
Nitric oxide (NO) is too short-lived to be measured in vivo, but its production can be estimated by measuring its stable oxidation products. nitrite/nitrate (NOx), or the intracellular second messenger cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP), in serum. Its measurement is important for characterizing the regulatory roles of NO in various biological systems. The ability of the kidney to synthesize NO can be markedly influenced by disease states including chronic renal failure and diabetes. We evaluated serum NOx, and the biochemical indices of renal function, urea and creatinine. in 26 Libyan patients with end stage renal failure treated with hemodialysis in the dialysis unit at 2uid March Teaching Hospital, and another 26 healthy subjects, as a control. Interestingly, serum NOx level in the control subjects (18.7±3.7 μmol/I) was significantly higher than that of the dialysis patients (10.7±1.56 μmol/l). but had no significant correlation with urea and creatinine levels. In the hemodialysis patients, the level of NOx remained the same even after 3-4 hours of dialysis. However, serum urea (1 66±9.2 mg/dI vs 85.2±6.6mg/dl) and creatinine (1 1.8±0.7mg/dl vs 5.5±0.3mg/dI) concentrations were significantly reduced (P<0.05). We conclude that further investigations of the biological properties of nitric oxide may lead to understanding. at least partly. the mechanism of the pathophysiology of chronic renal failure. Keywords: end stage renal failure; Nitric oxide; nitrite, nitrate; hemodialysis Link/DOI: