Neutrophil Gelatinase-Associated Lipocalin in Peritoneal Effluent: Evaluation in Peritoneal Dialysis Patients in Basal Condition

♦ Pur pose: In the present study, we assessed expression of neutrophil gelatinase–associated lipocalin (NGAL) in peritoneal effluent (pNGAL) from peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients, and we evaluated factors that might affect its level in basal conditions. ♦ M ethods: Our cross-sectional study included all 69 patients on PD at our institution. We evaluated patient history, hydration status, residual renal function, indices of dialysis adequacy, peritoneal transport type, serum C-reactive protein, ferritin, serum NGAL (sNGAL) and pNGAL. Univariate and multivariate linear regression models were used to evaluate predictors of pNGAL. ♦ R esults: Of the study patients, 39 (56.5%) were men, and 54 (78.3%) were on continuous ambulatory PD. Median age in the group was 61 years [interquartile range (IQR): 46.5 – 71 years]. Median sNGAL was 487 n g/mL (IQR: 407 – 586 ng/mL), and median pNGAL was 35 ng/mL (IQR: 21 – 46 n g/mL). dNGAL correlated directly with weekly dialytic clearance of creatinine (ρ = 0.291, p = 0.02) and with sNGAL (ρ = 0.269, p = 0.031). The same variables were also independent predictors of pNGAL (β = 0.30 and 0.29 respectively, both p < 0.05) in multivariate analysis. ♦ Conclusions: In our analysis, basal levels of pNGAL were influenced by sNGAL and by dialytic clearance of creatinine.