OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether changes in peritoneal membrane characteristics and inflammatory mediators in dialysate precede the onset of overt infection during continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD)-related peritonitis. DESIGN: CAPD patients with a high peritonitis incidence stored every night bag at 4 degrees C. Routinely, each bag was thrown away after two days. Only if patients developed peritonitis, all bags were delivered for study. Thus, two night bags immediately prior to the first peritonitis bag were available for analysis. A control study was done 14 days after recovery. Dialysate samples were measured for TNF alpha, IL-6, PGE2, 6-keto-PGF1 alpha, TxB2, and serum proteins. The clearance of beta 2-microglobulin was used as an indicator of the effective peritoneal surface area. The intrinsic peritoneal permeability was characterized by the restriction coefficient. RESULTS: Eight episodes occurred in 5 patients. The night dwells available prior to the first peritonitis effluent were drained maximally nine dwells and minimally one dwell before the first peritonitis bag. Dialysate leukocyte counts exceeded 100 x 10(6)/L only on the day of manifest infection. However, bacterial cultures were already positive at least one day before overt infection in four episodes and in three of these cases two days before. No changes were observed prior to peritonitis for the clearance of beta 2-microglobulin or the restriction coefficient. In contrast to these permeability characteristics, the cytokines, TNF alpha and, though less significant, also IL-6, were increased in dialysate one day prior to overt infection, when compared to the values obtained at the control investigation. This was especially evident in effluents drained no longer than two dwells before the first peritonitis bag. Prostaglandin concentrations in dialysate were not different before the onset of manifest peritonitis from the values measured after recovery. CONCLUSION: In this study, the increased effective peritoneal surface area and intrinsic peritoneal permeability during acute infection appeared to be preceded by elevations in the cytokines TNF alpha and, to a lesser extent, IL-6. These increments occurred only very shortly before the onset of clinical symptoms.

Copyright © 1995 by Multimed Inc.