Plasma atrial natriuretic factor (alpha ANF) during hemodialysis (HD) and hemofiltration (HF)

Plasma concentrations of immunoreactive alpha ANF were measured before, during, and after 3 hours of hemodialysis (HD) and hemofiltration (HF). In seven healthy subjects plasma alpha ANF concentrations were measured to serve as controls. Highly elevated pre-treatment alpha ANF levels were obtained in the HD group (286 +/- 52 pg/ml, mean +/- SE), and in the HF group (275 +/- 48 pg/ml) as compared with the controls (40 +/- 3 pg/ml). The effect of both HD and HF on the alpha ANF concentration was not significant after the first hour of treatment. However, a significant decrease was obtained after the second (HD = 244 +/- 49, HF = 140 +/- 17) and third hours (HD = 244 +/- 48, HF = 135 +/- 15) (p less than 0.05) in both treatments. A steeper decline in the alpha ANF concentration was notable during HF compared with HD. There was a significant difference (p less than 0.05) when both modalities were compared at the end of treatment. A correlation (r2 = 0.98, p less than 0.001) was noted between changes in the alpha ANF levels and the ultrafiltration (UF) volumes only during HF. Plasma alpha ANF concentrations at the filter outlet were lower than at the inlet in both groups. It is concluded that the plasma alpha ANF concentrations are highly elevated in chronic renal failure patients. Despite the decrease in these concentrations during HD and HF it did not reach the normal plasma level. Monitoring of plasma alpha ANF may be a useful indicator for the extracellular volume status during HD and HF treatments.