Mechanisms of acid-base regulation in peritoneal dialysis

Peritoneal dialysis and acute kidney injury in acute brain injury patients

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a heterogeneous syndrome with multiple etiologies. It occurs frequently in the neurocritical intensive care unit and is associated with greater morbidity and mortality. In this scenario, AKI alters the kidney-brain axis, exposing patients who receive habitual dialytic management to greater injury. Various therapies have been designed to mitigate this risk. Priority has been placed by KDIGO guidelines on the use of continuous over intermittent acute kidney replacement therapies (AKRT). On this background, continuous therapies have a pathophysiological rationale in patients with acute brain injury. A low-efficiency therapy such as PD and CRRT could achieve optimal clearance control and potentially reduce the risk of secondary brain injury. Therefore, this work will review the evidence on peritoneal dialysis as a continuous AKRT in neurocritical patients, describing its benefits and risks so it may be considered as an option when deciding among available therapeutic options.

Mechanisms of Peritoneal Acid-Base Kinetics During Peritoneal Dialysis: A Mathematical Model Study

To investigate mechanisms of acid-base changes during peritoneal dialysis (PD), a mathematical model was developed that describes kinetics of peritoneal bicarbonate, CO2, and pH during the dwell with both high and low lactate-containing dialysis fluids. The model was based on a previous modification of the Rippe 3-Pore model of water and solute kinetic transport across the peritoneal membrane during the PD dwell. A central feature of the present modification is an electroneutrality constraint on peritoneal-fluid ion concentrations, which results in the conclusion that peritoneal bicarbonate-concentration kinetics are entirely dependent on the kinetics of the other ions. This new model was able to closely predict peritoneal bicarbonate-concentration kinetics during the dwell. Predictions of total peritoneal bicarbonate-mass kinetics were greater than those of porous, transmembrane bicarbonate transport, suggesting that a portion of bicarbonate comes from CO2 transport, both porous and nonporous and then a partial conversion to bicarbonate. Fitting the model to experimental pH data during the dwell, required addition of a peritoneal CO2 mass-conservation constraint, coupled with the description for peritoneal bicarbonate kinetics. Predicted pH kinetics during the dwell, closely mimicked the experimental data. The conclusion was that the mechanisms describing peritoneal bicarbonate and pH kinetics during PD must include 1) electroneutrality of peritoneal fluid, 2) porous transport of bicarbonate and CO2, 3) nonporous transport of CO2, and 4) CO2 conversion to bicarbonate. These mechanisms are quite different and more complex than the bicarbonate-centered, lactate to acid-generation mechanisms previously proposed.