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Monitoring of Urea and Potassium by Reverse Iontophoresis In Vitro

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Abstract

Purpose

Reverse iontophoresis is an alternative to blood sampling for the monitoring of endogenous molecules. Here, the potential of the technique to measure urea and potassium levels non-invasively, and to track their concentrations during hemodialysis, has been examined.

Materials and Methods

In vitro experiments were performed to test (a) a series of subdermal urea and potassium concentrations typical of the pathophysiologic range, and (b) a decreasing profile of urea and potassium subdermal concentrations to mimic those which are observed during hemodialysis.

Results

(a) After 60–120 min of iontophoresis, linear relationships (p < 0.05) were established between both urea and potassium fluxes and their respective subdermal concentrations. The determination coefficients were above 0.9 after 1 h of current passage using sodium as an internal standard. (b) Reverse iontophoretic fluxes of urea and K+ closely paralleled the decay of the respective concentrations in the subdermal compartment, as would occur during a hemodialysis session.

Conclusions

These in vitro experiments demonstrate that urea and potassium can be quantitatively and proportionately extracted by reverse iontophoresis, even when the subdermal concentrations of the analytes are varying with time. These results suggest the non-invasive monitoring of urea and potassium to diagnose renal failure and during hemodialysis is feasible, and that in vivo measurements are warranted.

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Abbreviations

BUN:

Blood Urea Nitrogen

I :

current

IS:

internal standard

J :

flux

r 2 :

determination coefficient

T :

transport number

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Acknowledgments

Funded in part by the FRSM (Fonds de Recherche Scientifique Medical) (Belgium) and by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (EB-001420). Valentine Wascotte is a research fellow of the FNRS (Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique) (Belgium) and thanks Denis Dufrane, Nathalie Lecouturier and Bernard Ucakar for their helpful contributions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université Catholique de Louvain, Unité de Pharmacie Galénique, Avenue Emmanuel Mounier, UCL 73 20, 1200, Brussels, Belgium

    Valentine Wascotte & Véronique Préat

  2. Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath, BA2 7AY, United Kingdom

    M. Begoña Delgado-Charro & Richard H. Guy

  3. Chimie Analytique, Université de Liège, BAT B36, Avenue de l’Hôpital, 1, 4000, Liège, Belgium

    Eric Rozet &  Philippe Hubert

  4. Biochimie Médicale, Cliniques Universitaires St Luc, Université Catholique de Louvain, Avenue Hippocrate, 10, 1200, Brussels, Belgium

    Pierre Wallemacq

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  1. Valentine Wascotte
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  2. M. Begoña Delgado-Charro
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  3. Eric Rozet
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  4. Pierre Wallemacq
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  5. Philippe Hubert
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  6. Richard H. Guy
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  7. Véronique Préat
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Correspondence to Véronique Préat.

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Wascotte, V., Delgado-Charro, M.B., Rozet, E. et al. Monitoring of Urea and Potassium by Reverse Iontophoresis In Vitro . Pharm Res 24, 1131–1137 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11095-007-9237-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11095-007-9237-0

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