Trace elements in sera from patients with renal disease

In hemodialysis (HD) patients, an accumulation of trace elements such as aluminum, copper, silicon and vanadium has been reported. Aluminum-caused encephalopathy and aluminum-related bone diseases are important trace element-related complications. Using particle induced X-ray emission (PIXE) we determined concentrations of aluminum, silicon, copper, zinc, selenium and bromine in sera of 29 patients with HD, 14 nondialysis patients with renal disease (RD) and 27 normal controls. The concentration of serum silicon of the patients with HD was 107.4±61.3 μmol/l, which is markedly higher than that of normal controls (48.3±25.8 μmol/l, p<0.0001). The serum concentrations of zinc and bromine in patients with HD were 11.9±1.7 and 21.3±3.0 μmol/l, respectively. Both were markedly lower than those of normal controls (15.6 ± 2.6, 69.2±8.3 μmol/l, p<0.0001). The concentrations of aluminium and bromine in the serum of patients with RD were 171.9±64.3 and 81.9±11.6 μmol/l, which were markedly higher than those of normal controls (p<0.0001, p<0.001). No significant differences were observed in the concentration of copper and selenium among three groups