Acute renal failure: biochemical evaluation of total parenteral nutrition with essential L-amino acids.

Plasma amino acid patterns were studied in three groups: one of 10 healthy subjects used as control, one of five patients in acute renal failure treated by haemodialysis plus a standard high-calorie non-protein diet, and one of five patients with the same clinical condition and treated in the same way except that the total parenteral nutrition consisted of a mixture of carbohydrate and essential L-amino acids. Our results indicate that haemodialysis seems to be responsible for some part of the depletion of amino acids and that their administration reduces this effect both for the essential and for the non-essential amino acids.