Host defence and effects of solutions on peritoneal cells

It is general experience that some patients receiving long-term peritoneal dialysis suffer from repeated episodes of peritonitis while others remain relatively free of this complication. It has been suggested that differences in the ability of individual subjects to resist infection, i.e., their host defence, are at least partly responsible for this clinical observation. This hypothesis was strengthened by the report by Verbrugh et al. on the potential efficacy of peritoneal macrophages and opsonins in the antibacterial defence of such patients [1]. In this chapter we review the available evidence on the various components of host defences of peritoneal dialysis patients including the effect of the dialysate.