Amino acid content of erythrocytes in uremia

Extract: The amino acid content of plasma and erythrocytes in patients with severe renal failure treated with selective low-protein diets, in patients on regular hemodialysis, and in a control group of healthy subjects was studied. Most amino acids in erythrocytes of the patients showed the same changes as in plasma with the exception of histidine, serine, and alanine. In spite of low histidine plasma levels, the erythrocytes level is increased as compared with healthy controls. In uremic patients the plasma serine was constantly reduced whereas the serine content of the erythrocytes did not differ from healthy controls. Alanine concentrations in the erythrocytes of uremic patients were increased in spite of normal alanine plasma levels. In the control group the cysteine content of erythrocytes was decreased with a gradient between plasma and erythrocytes of 3.5:1