Quantification of the cross-link pentosidine in serum from normal and uremic subjects

Pentosidine is a fluorescent cross-link compound that accumulates in human tissues from uremic and diabetic patients. Using SP-Sephadex C-25 pretreatment before reversed-phase HPLC, we developed a method for quantifying pentosidine in the acid hydrolysate of serum. We examined concentrations of pentosidine in serum from 98 patients with end-stage renal disease requiring hemodialysis and from 33 normal control subjects. The mean (+/- SD) concentration of pentosidine was significantly greater in serum from uremic patients than that from control subjects (1267 +/- 695 nmol/L vs 77 +/- 40 nmol/L, P = 0.0001). There was a significant correlation between serum pentosidine concentrations and age in control subjects (r = 0.453, P < 0.01), but not in uremic patients. Serum pentosidine significantly increased with the duration of hemodialysis treatment (r = 0.272, P < 0.05). The greater pentosidine concentrations in uremic patients may be caused by the increased synthesis of pentosidine (perhaps because of the retention of pentosidine precursors), by the retention of pentosidine molecule itself in end-stage renal failure, or both.