Nitric Oxide Levels in Patients with Chronic Renal Disease

The NO levels were markedly enhanced in the CRF patients who were on MHD. This was due to the dialysis procedure itself, which led to the stimulation of cytokine induced NO synthase and also due to the platelets which generated more NO due to uraemia. At high concentrations, NO is a cytotoxic molecule which is responsible for the complications of dialysis and it results in Nitrosative Stress in these patients, as it is a highly reactive free radical. Since the no output correlated with the serum creatinine and urea concentrations, a higher no production probably indicated insufficient blood purification, due to the common effect on their elimination pathways via the renal tract. Therefore, the alterations of the renal function, that are reflected in the changes of the creatinine concentration, will be accompanied by the changes in the serum NO. Thus, the determination of the NO levels in the peripheral blood may be useful in the assessment of the dialysis and they can also be used as markers in the follow up and the prognosis in these type of patients.