Hemodialysis does not affect erythrocyte sodium-lithium countertransport

Sodium-lithium countertransport measurements on erythrocytes are currently of interest because some hypertensive subjects and their relatives have abnormally high values. Woods et al [1] reported that red cells taken from dialysis patients after hemodialysis had significantly lower sodium-lithium countertransport than before dialysis. They suggested that sodium-lithium countertransport is influenced by 'a dialyzable plasma factor'. We conducted experiments to further evaluate their observations relating to the 'dialyzable plasma factor'. However, we have been unable to confirm their findings. Neither an effect of hemodialysis on sodium-lithium countertransport in erythrocytes from maintenance dialysis patients nor any effect of dialysis on normal erythrocytes in vitro was evident. Our results do not support the existence of a dialyzable plasma factor affecting sodium-lithium countertransport.