Background: Chronic hemodialysis (HD) patients have a very high cardiovascular risk. Acute vascular changes during dialysis mediated by factors of the endothelium may have a crucial role in this. The aim of this article is to study the acute vascular changes during HD.
Methods: In 29 consecutive chronic HD patients (age: 65.6 ± 10.4 years), their pre-, mid-, and post-HD plasma syndecan-1 (SDC-1) and endothelin-1 (ET-1) levels were measured. Applanation tonometry was performed before HD.
Results: Their SDC-1 levels increased during HD (p = 0.004). Males had higher ET-1 levels. The patients were divided into two groups based on their pre-HD pulse wave velocity (PWV): PWV ≥ 12 m/s and PWV < 12 m/s. The pre-HD and mid-HD SDC-1 levels were higher in the group with a PWV ≥ 12 m/s (10.174 ± 2.568 vs. 7.928 ± 1.794 ng/mL, p = 0.013, and 10.319 ± 3.482 vs. 8.248 ± 1.793 ng/mL, p = 0.044, respectively). The post-HD ET-1 levels were higher in the patient group with a PWV ≥ 12 m/s (10.88 ± 3.00 vs. 8.05 ± 3.48 pg/l, p = 0.027). Patients with a PWV ≥ 12 m/s had higher pre-HD peripheral and aortic systolic blood pressures (p < 0.05). The total cholesterol correlated with the SDC-1 decrease during HD (r = 0.539; p = 0.008). The pre-, mid-, and post-HD SDC-1 correlated with ultrafiltration (r = 0.432, p = 0.019; r = 0.377, p = 0.044; and r = 0.401, p = 0.012, respectively).
Conclusion: SDC-1 and ET-1 contribute to the vascular changes observed during HD, and they have correlations with some cardiovascular risk factors.
Keywords: arterial stiffness; end-stage kidney disease; endothelial glycocalyx; endothelin; hemodialysis; syndecan.