The transport of macromolecules such as proteins and dextrans during CAPD is restricted by the permeability of the peritoneum. When its degree is determined by diffusion characteristics of macromolecules, the intrinsic permeability of the peritoneal membrane can be expressed as the relation between clearance of macromolecules and parameters of diffusion velocity. In order to characterize the peritoneal restriction barrier in individual patients, such a relationship has to meet the following conditions: (a) a good fit to linearity, (b) a low inter- and intra individual variability and (c) similarity for proteins and equal sized dextran fractions. In the present study a comparison is made between the reciprocal plot (RP): C-1 = s (esr) + A and the diffusion plot (DP): C = A'. Ds20,w. In these equations C is clearance, esr is Einstein Stokes radius, D20,w is the free diffusion coefficient in water, A and A' are constants, while s is the slope of the regression line and therefore represents intrinsic peritoneal permeability to macromolecules. The 95% confidence interval of the correlation coefficient r was above 0.95 in all studies for the RP and the DP. In general it was somewhat higher for the DP. The inter-individual coefficient of variation was lower in the DP than in the RP. This was also the case for the intra-individual coefficient of variation of the slope for proteins (DP 4% vs RP 27%, p less than 0.01) and for dextrans (DP 18% vs RP 47%, p less than 0.05). The correlation coefficient between dextran slopes and protein slopes was higher for DP (r = 0.68) than for RP (r = 0.50).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)