An update on uremic toxins

The general and non-specific treatment of uremic intoxication by dialysis or transplantation had a more successful evolution in recent decades than the basic in-depth biochemical investigation of uremic toxicity. Symposia like the present one are, however, milestones on the road to a better knowledge of uremic toxicity and its treatment. Trends can be recognized in the description of the clinical state of uremia, in the methodology used to isolate, purify and identify uremic toxins, in the importance attached to a single toxin, in the inhibitory impact of toxins on enzymes or receptors, and in the experimental reproduction of specific toxic effects