The effects of hemodialysis treatment duration on the serum asymmetric dimethylarginine levels and endothelial markers

End stage renal disease is still an important healthcare problem despite the new advances in diagnosis and treatment because of its high morbidity and mortality. Cardivascular diseases are the leading cause of death among patients with end-stage renal disease.Asymmetric Dimethyl Arginine (ADMA) is an endogenous inhibitor of nitric oxide (NO) synthase and causes local vasospasm and endothelial dysfunction by inhibiting local NO production. Therefore ADMA is evaluated as a secondary risk factor for coronary artery disease. Atherosclerosis development is a complex process and endothelial dysfunction plays a crucial role in patients with coronary atherosclerosis. Adhesion molecules plays an important role in atherosclerosis morphology. Adhesion molecules are a heterogeneous class of ligands/receptors that mediate cell adhesion either to other cells or to the extracellular matrix. ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 are the members of immunoglobulin superfamily of adhesion molecules.The goal of this study was to examine the levels of serum ADMA, NO, ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 in patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) who treated with hemodialysis. We investigated the effects of hemodialysis treatment duration to these markers.Seventyfive CRF subjects (0-2 years, 3-4 years, 5-6 years, 7-8 years, 9-10 years) participated in this study. To be selected patients had to have no other diseases. The control group was formed by fifteen appearentely healthy people. ADMA and arginine levels were measured by HPLC with fluorecence detection. Serum Nitrite/Nitrate, ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 concentrations were determined using a commercial ELİSA kit. Statistical analyses were done by using SPSS 13.0 for Windows One-Way ANOVA multipled comparison.Patients of CRF had significant higher values of ADMA compared to control group. NO levels were lower in three groups who treated 5-6, 7-8, 9,10 years compared to control group. Serum ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 levels were significantly higher than control group. No significant difference was observed when the patient (subject) groups were compared in terms of hemodialysis treatment periods.Consequently, our investigation have shown that the levels of serum ADMA, ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 levels increased although this increase was not affected by the period in which hemodialysis treatment was applied.