[The secretory performance of eccrine sweat glands from the nephrologic viewpoint--II: Middle molecules]

By means of gel-chromatographic investigations in the serum, sweat, urine and ultrafiltrate of healthy test persons, patients with renal insufficiency at the stage of the compensated and decompensated retention and of patients undergoing dialysis in the eccrine sweat substances in the area of so-called molecules of medium size from 1,100 to 2,050 Dalton are made evident. On account of the well-known heterogeneity of the gel-chromatographically separated fraction the concentration of the molecules of medium size is not unequivocally to be determined. It is, judged according to the peak hights of the chromatograms, less than 1/12 of the concentrations in the serum and the urine, but approximately corresponds to the content in the ultrafiltrate of patients undergoing haemodialysis. In patients with renal diseases the secretory possibility of the eccrine sudoriferous gland for molecules of medium size is not disturbed. A compensatory increased secretion of medium-size molecules via sweat in chronic renal insufficiency is not to be proved. The method of the gel-chromatography and the importance of the medium-size molecules for the pathogenesis of uraemia are critically discussed.