BILE-FLOW IN A MUTANT SPRAGUE-DAWLEY RAT WITH DEFECTIVE BILIARY-EXCRETION OF GLUTATHIONE

The Eisai hyperbilirubinemic rat is a mutant strain of Sprague-Dawley origin with hereditary defects in the biliary excretion of bilirubin g lucuronide, glutathione, and several other organic anions. The correla tion between bile flow and bile acid excretion rates during taurochola te infusion revealed that bile acid-independent flow was smaller in th e mutant than in intact Sprague-Dawley rats (19.3 vs 56.0 mul/kg per m in), while bile acid-dependent flow was similar. The correlation betwe en bile flow and glutathione excretion rates in Sprague-Dawley rats wi th modified hepatic glutathione levels revealed that a certain portion of bile flow was proportional to the biliary excretion of glutathione , with a coefficient of 551 bile per 1 mol glutathione. One-third of b ile acid-independent bile flow in intact Sprague-Dawley rats was accou nted for by glutathione osmosis, which feature was absent in the mutan t rats.