Flow-cytometric study of granulocyte activation during hemodialysis with different membranes

Flow cytometry allows an easy quantitation of reactive oxygen intermediate production and of C3bi receptor expression by granulocytes, thus providing a clinical tool to evaluate the hemodialysis-related granulocyte activation. In this flowcytometric study, we analyzed the effects of cellulosic, synthetic polyacrylonitrile, and ethylene-vinyl-alcohol dialyzers on granulocyte membrane and function. Our results confirmed the data reported in the literature on granulocyte activation secondary to cellulosic membranes and the better biocompatibility of synthetic dialyzers that did not increase C3bi receptor expression and reactive oxygen intermediate generation by granulocytes. The flow-cytometric analysis of granulocyte activation might be the method of choice to identify the best patient/membrane interaction in every single patient.