Changes in serum asymmetric dimethylarginine and endothelial markers levels with varying periods of hemodialysis.

Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) as a uremia toxin is accumulated in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. Elevated ADMA level has been shown to be predictive of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and all-cause mortality in ESRD. Therefore, we investigated the effect of prolonged hemodialysis (HD) treatment on the levels of serum ADMA, arginine, nitric oxide (NO), soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1) and soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (sVCAM-1). Seventy-five patients (M/F = 40/35) with chronic renal failure (CRF) and who were on HD were divided into five groups with differing treatment periods of HD; from 6 to 24 months to 97-120 months. Fifteen apparently healthy subjects acted as controls. The serum levels of ADMA, sICAM-1 and sVCAM-1 were increased in all patient groups compared to the control group. No significant difference was observed when the patient groups were compared in terms of HD treatment periods. Nitric oxide levels were lower in the three groups who were treated for periods of 49-72, 73-96, 97-120 months compared to the control group. The L-arginine to ADMA ratio was decreased in all patient groups compared to controls. Consequently, our investigations have shown that in HD continued for more than 4 years NO levels began to decrease significantly and the levels of serum ADMA, sICAM-1 and sVCAM-1 levels increased although this increase was not affected by the period in which hemodialysis treatment was applied.