Intravenous iron administration induces oxidation of serum albumin in hemodialysis patients.

Intravenous iron administration induces oxidation of serum albumin in hemodialysis patients. Background Intravenous iron administration (IVIR) is effective for correcting anemia in hemodialysis (HD) patients. However, it may also enhance the generation of hydroxyl radicals. Recently, plasma proteins have been demonstrated to be extremely susceptible to oxidative stress. Therefore, we investigated the effect of IVIR on the oxidative status of albumin, a major plasma protein, in HD patients. Methods Eleven hemodialysis (HD) patients were treated with 40 mg of saccharated ferric oxide intravenously after every dialysis session for four weeks, and 11 age-/gender-matched HD patients were treated with vehicle. We performed high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis of serum albumin and determined the levels of reduced and oxidized albumin. Carbonyl formation of plasma proteins were also measured using an anti-2,4 dinitrophenylhydrazine antibody in patients with or without IVIR. Results IVIR resulted in an increase in both disulfide form (f(HNA-1)) and oxidized form (f(HNA-2)) of albumin in HD patients (36.0 ± 6.03 vs. 41.7 ± 6.27; 5.46 ± 1.50 vs. 8.7 ± 2.22, respectively, P R = 0.674 and R = 0.724, respectively, P Conclusion The results of this study indicate that the HPLC analysis of serum albumin represents a potentially useful method for the quantitative and qualitative evaluation of oxidative stress in HD patients, and strongly suggest the possibility that oxidative stress, generated by IVIR, enhances the oxidation of albumin in those patients.