Biliary excretion of cholephilic organic dyes in glutathione-depleted rats

Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with a combination of buthionine sulfoximine (2.5 mmol/kg body wt) and diethyl maleate (6.2 mmol/kg). After 4 h, the hepatic glutathione was depleted to 0.02±0.01 μmol/g liver (mean±SD, n=6) (4.73±0.29 μmol/g in controls (n=6), p<0.005). THE BILE FLOW RATE WAS LOWER IN TREATED ANIMALS THAN IN CONTROLS (39.0±11.2 VS. 73.7±13.7 μL.KG -1 .min -1 , p<0.005). Bile concentrations of bile acids, phospholipids, and cholesterol were not changed compared to controls, while glutathione was virtually absent from the bile. A bolus of indocyanine green (6.5 μmol/kg), rose bengal (6.5 μmol/kg), or sulfobromophthalein-glutathione conjugate (20 μmol/kg) was injected i.v. and the biliary excretion was monitored