AJP - Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology, Vol 247, Issue 5 527-G536, Copyright © 1984 by American Physiological Society

ARTICLES

Permeation patterns of polar nonelectrolytes across the guinea pig biliary tree

N. Tavoloni

The biliary permeation of polar nonelectrolytes was studied in anesthetized, bile duct-cannulated guinea pigs with functional cholecystectomy and nephrectomy. During spontaneous secretion, the steady-state bile-to-plasma ratio (B/P) of [14C]urea, [14C]erythritol, [14C]mannitol, [3H]sucrose, and [3H]inulin was 1.02, 0.90, 0.38, 0.12, and 0.04, respectively. Differently structured hydroxy bile acids, but not taurodehydrocholate, reversibly diminished [14C]erythritol and [14C]mannitol B/P during choleresis, and with some of them, particularly taurocholate and glycochenodeoxycholate, the biliary clearance of either solute declined below precholeretic levels. For any given hydroxy bile acid, the degree of B/P diminution was directly related to the molecular radii of these two inert carbohydrates. All bile acids failed to decrease [14C]urea, [3H]sucrose, and [3H]inulin B/P. On the contrary, most of them irreversibly increased [3H]sucrose and [3H]inulin permeability. These results suggest that in the guinea pig 1) hydroxy bile acids diminish the size or rearrange the architecture of the canalicular membrane "aqueous pores" through which [14C]erythritol and [14C]mannitol enter the canaliculus, and 2) solutes of the size of or smaller than [14C]mannitol enter bile primarily through a transcellular route, whereas [3H]sucrose, and [3H]inulin permeate mainly via a transjunctional shunt pathway. These studies indicate that [14C]erythritol and [14C]mannitol cannot be used to estimate canalicular bile flow in this species.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				N. Kanno, G. LeSage, S. Glaser, and G. Alpini Regulation of cholangiocyte bicarbonate secretion Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol, September 1, 2001; 281(3): G612 - G625. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]