In medicine, dialysis (from Greek διάλυσις, Dialysis, "dissolution"; from διά, dia, "through", and λύσις, lysis, "loosening or splitting") is the process of removing excess water, solutes, and toxins from the blood in people whose kidneys can no longer perform these functions naturally. This is referred to as renal replacement therapy.

Dialysis is used in patients with rapidly developing loss of kidney function, called acute kidney injury (previously called acute renal failure), or slowly worsening kidney function, called Stage 5 chronic kidney disease, (previously called chronic kidney failure, end-stage renal disease, and end-stage kidney disease).

Dialysis is used as a temporary measure in either acute kidney injury or in that awaiting kidney transplant and as a permanent measure in those for whom a transplant is not indicated or not possible. In Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States, dialysis is paid for by the government for those who are eligible. The first successful dialysis was performed in 1943.

In research laboratories, dialysis technique can also be used to separate molecules based on their size. Additionally, it can be used to balance buffer between a sample and the solution "dialysis bath" or "dialysate" that the sample is in. For dialysis in a laboratory, a tubular semipermeable membrane made of cellulose acetate or nitrocellulose is used.

Pore size is varied according to the size separation required with larger pore sizes allowing larger molecules to pass through the membrane. Solvents, ions and buffer can diffuse easily across the semipermeable membrane, but larger molecules are unable to pass through the pores. This can be used to purify proteins of interest from a complex mixture by removing smaller proteins and molecules.

Principle

Dialysis works on the principles of the diffusion of solutes and ultrafiltration of fluid across a semi-permeable membrane. Diffusion is a property of substances in water; substances in water tend to move from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration.[7] Blood flows by one side of a semi-permeable membrane, and a dialysate, or special dialysis fluid, flows by the opposite side. A semipermeable membrane is a thin layer of material that contains holes of various sizes, or pores. Smaller solutes and fluid pass through the membrane, but the membrane blocks the passage of larger substances (for example, red blood cells, large proteins). This replicates the filtering process that takes place in the kidneys when the blood enters the kidneys and the larger substances are separated from the smaller ones in the glomerulus.

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