Metabolites of glucose in the blood of patients with renal failure

Utility of SIFT-MS to evaluate volatile organic compounds in nephropathic patients' breath

Several studies highlighted a correlation between exhaled air volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and some pathological conditions, such as chronic kidney disease (CKD), chronic liver disease, etc. In fact, in literature has been reported that CKD is characterized by an increased concentration of ammonia, trimethylamine (TMA) and isoprene compared to healthy subjects. Currently, there is not a validate and standardized method to detect VOCs. For this purpose, we examined the utility of selected ion flow tube-mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS) to measure VOCs in CKD patients and we evaluated the possible correlation between VOCs and the presence of CKD and its stage. We enrolled 68 CKD patients under conservative therapy and 54 healthy subjects. The analysis of the VOCs of the exhaled air of the enrolled subjects was performed by SIFT-MS. Among all the VOCs analyzed, the most relevant results by ROC curves were observed for TMA, acetone, ammonia and dimethyl sulfide. We found that a breath TMA concentration superior to 26 ppbv characterizes a 6.11 times greater risk of CKD, compared to subjects with lower levels. Moreover, we detected an increased concentration of acetone and ammonia in CKD patients compared to healthy subjects. We highlight the potential utility of SIFT-MS in CKD clinical management.

Clinical trial registry: R.S. 15.19 of 6 February 2019.

Gold nanoparticle sensors for detecting chronic kidney disease and disease progression

AIM

To study the feasibility of a novel nanomedical method that utilizes breath testing for identifying chronic kidney disease (CKD) and disease progression.

MATERIALS & METHODS

Exhaled breath samples were collected from 62 volunteers. The breath samples were analyzed using sensors based on organically functionalized gold nanoparticles, combined with support vector machine analysis. Sensitivity and specificity with reference to CKD patient classification according to estimated glomerular filtration rate were determined using cross-validation. The chemical composition of the breath samples was studied using gas chromatography linked with mass spectrometry.

RESULTS

A combination of two to three gold nanoparticles sensors provided good distinction between early-stage CKD and healthy states (accuracy of 79%) and between stage 4 and 5 CKD states (accuracy of 85%). A single sensor provided a distinction between early and advanced CKD (accuracy of 76%). Several substances in the breath were identified and could be associated with CKD-related biochemical processes or with the accumulation of toxins through kidney function loss.

CONCLUSION

Breath testing using gold nanoparticle sensors holds future potential as a cost-effective, fast and reliable diagnostic test for early detection of CKD and monitoring of disease progression.

Endogenous ethanol--its metabolic, behavioral and biomedical significance

Ethanol is constantly formed endogenously from acetaldehyde, and level of the former can be measured in both human beings and animals. Acetaldehyde can be generated in situ from the metabolism of pyruvate, threonine, deoxyribose-5-phosphate, phosphoethanolamine, alanine and presumably from other substrates. The levels of blood and tissue endogenous ethanol change as a function of various physiologic and experimental conditions such as starvation, aging, stress, cooling, adrenalectomy, etc. and are regulated by many exogenous compounds such as antimetabolites, derivatives of amino acids, lithium salts, disulfiram, cyanamide, etc. Under free choice alcohol selection situations, the levels of endogenous ethanol in rat blood and alcohol preference by the animals are negatively correlated. Similar negative correlations have been found between the levels of blood endogenous ethanol and the frequency of delirium in alcoholic patients undergoing alcohol withdrawal. Endogenous ethanol and acetaldehyde can therefore be regarded as compounds which fulfil substrate, regulatory and modulator functions.