INSULIN-LIKE GROWTH FACTOR-I VALUES IN PATIENTS ON MAINTENANCE HEMODIALYSIS - RELATIONSHIP TO GROWTH-HORMONE AND ALBUMIN LEVELS

Twenty-seven uremic patients (blood urea: 58.2+/-2.2 mmol/l; blood creatinine: 1,069+/-53 mumol/l; mean+/-SE) on maintenance dialysis were investigated immediately before and after a dialysis session. Control data were obtained from 30 normal volunteers. Before dialysis, circulating levels of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) were similar in anuric and nonanuric patients, averaging 305+/-24 mug/l, a value not different from that observed in normal controls (262+/-16 mug/l). IGF-I levels were not modified by dialysis. In contrast, GH values were significantly higher in uremic patients (3.6+/-0.6 mug/l) than in normal controls (2.5+/-0.5 mug/l) and decreased significantly after the dialysis session (0.8+/-0.1 mug/l). IGF-I values were positively correlated with GH and albumin, but not with the various parameters of renal insufficiency, suggesting that in chronic renal failure, synthesis of IGF-I appears to be regulated, as in normal subjects, by growth hormone and nutritional status.