Evaluation of serum free amino acids in patients on maintenance hemodialysis and after kidney transplantation

Chronic renal failure is associated with abnormalities in serum amino acid profile. It is claimed that maintenance hemodialysis does not correct these changes. To assess this issue, 42 ambulatory adult patients receiving maintenance hemodialysis were evaluated with respect to their serum free amino acids. the effect of kidney transplantation on the amino acid profile was investigated by evaluating seven of these hemodialysis patients who had undergone transplantation, three months after transplantation. Fasting concentrations of 16 free amino acids were estimated in serum by gas liquid chromatography. For statistical analyses, nönpaired and paired t tests were used. in the hemodialysis group, the mean values for all the essential amino acids were decreased, the decrease being significant for arginine, valine, leucine, lysine, threonine (p<0.001), and methionine (p<0.05). Among the nonessential amino acids alanine (p<0.001), glycine (p<0.05) and tyrosine (p<0.01) manifested significant decrease. in transplantation patients, posttransplant values for valine (p<0.01), isoleucine (p<0.05), alanine (p<0.001), and glycine (p<0.01) were significantly increased compared to pretransplant values. Most of the amino acids in the posttransplant period were comparable to the control group suggesting that a successful kidney transplantation is an efficient treatment for correcting the imbalance in amino acid metabolism in end stage renal disease.