Cytokine patterns in the effluent of continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis: Relationship to peritoneal permeability

Cytokines are pluripotent pleiotropic agents that have received widespread attention over the last few years. Not surprisingly, they have also been studied in the context of continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis. Cytokines play a central role in this treatment modality for uremic patients, because these inflammatory mediators act upon the biological dialysis membrane, i.e. the peritoneum, while simultaneously they participate in host defense mechansims. This review describes which cytokines are present in dialysate, whether there is support for intraperitoneal release, and under which circumstances. It focuses particularly on the relationship between cytokines in peritoneal effluent and peritoneal permeability to macromolecules. In addition, the presence of prostanoids in dialysate and their role in the local regulation of peritoneal permeability are discussed, because cyclooxygenase products are tightly linked to cytokine networks.