The purpose of our study was to investigate the feasibility of using lactate as a complete or partial substitute for acetate in hemodialysis solutions. Six patients, each serving as his own control, were dialyzed once against a dialysis solution containing 40 mM acetate, once against a dialysis solution containing 40 mM DL-lactate and once against a dialysis solution containing 20 mM each of acetate and DL-lactate. Six additional patients underwent hemodialysis using acetate+lactate for a 3-week period, and the blood acid-base values during this period were compared to those obtained during periods when acetate was used. All dialysis treatments were well tolerated without hypotension or other clinical manifestations. When acetate+lactate was used, only a slight delay in the correction of acidosis during dialysis occurred and the net change in the plasma bicarbonate value appeared to be comparable to that measured with acetate. On the other hand, when lactate was used, the increase in the plasma bicarbonate level during and immediately after dialysis was reduced. With acetate+lactate, intradialytic blood D-lactate levels remained between 1 and 2 mM and returned promptly to near baseline within 1 h after dialysis. During 3 weeks of dialysis using acetate+lactate, predialysis plasma bicarbonate values were similar to those achieved when using acetate, but with acetate+lactate, the intradialytic plasma acetate levels were reduced by 50%. The results suggest that DL-lactate merits further evaluation as a potential base for hemodialysis solutions, and that both the D- and the L-lactate isomers are metabolized in maintenance hemodialysis patients.