A review is given on peritoneal function, especially ultrafiltration and ultrafiltration failure followed by recommendations on how to translate pathophysiology into clinical practice. The subsequent consequences for management of peritoneal membrane function and for patient information are also included.

Qualitative assessments in long-term patients and in those with encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis (EPS) have shown that impaired osmotic conductance is likely a factor contributing to the presence of ultrafiltration failure in those individuals. In the present study, we investigated the value of osmotic conductance, its components LpA and the reflection coefficient sigma, and free water transp...

A photobioreactor system has been designed, constructed, and implemented to achieve efficient oxygen production for a closed ecological life support system (CELSS). The special features of this system are the optical transmission system, uniform light distribution, continuous cycling of cells, gravity-independent gas exchange, and an ultrafiltration unit. The fiber optic based optical transmi...

An on-line mass spectrometric method has been developed to generate and identify drug metabolites formed by hepatic cytochromes P450. This method, pulsed ultrafiltration-mass spectrometry, may be used for rapid screening of drugs to determine their extent of metabolism by microsomal cytochromes P450 and to characterize the primary metabolites. Rat liver microsomes were trapped in a stirred ultr...

Physiologic and morphologic techniques were used to elucidate the determinants of the GFR in 25 nephrotic patients with minimal change nephropathy. They were divided into two groups according to the finding of either a normal (Group 1, N = 13) or a depressed (Group 2, N = 12) inulin clearance. RPF, afferent oncotic pressure, and dextran sieving coefficients were determined. Mathematical models ...

Micropuncture studies of acute renal failure after ischemic renal injury suggest that glomerular ultrafiltration coefficient may remain normal in the period immediately after ischemia and decline significantly during the following 18-24 hours. The present series of in vitro experiments was designed to evaluate glomerular ultrafiltration coefficient and glomerular oncometric and rheological prop...

The integrity of the peritoneal membrane in peritoneal dialysis (PD) is of major importance for adequate dialysis and fluid balance. However, alterations in peritoneal fluid transport, such as ultrafiltration failure, often develop during long-term PD. To investigate peritoneal solute and fluid transport and to analyze the influence of treatment time, peritonitis incidence, and PD modality (con...