AJP - Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology, Vol 253, Issue 6 787-G792, Copyright © 1987 by American Physiological Society
Intact biliary excretion of gastrically administered prostaglandin F2 alpha in rats: developmental differences
A. D. Bedrick, M. A. Wells, D. L. Ford and O. Koldovsky
Department of Pediatrics, University of Arizona Health Sciences Center, Tucson 85724.
Tritium-labeled prostaglandin F2 alpha was administered via orogastric tube
to bile duct-cannulated suckling and weanling rats to determine if
maturational differences were present in the biliary excretion of
prostaglandin F2 alpha and metabolites. Animals were killed 2 h after
radioactivity administration. Characterization of radioactivity present in
bile revealed age-related differences in biliary prostaglandin F2 alpha
excretion. Suckling rats had a greater proportion of radioactivity
migrating in chromatographic regions of greater polarity than prostaglandin
F2 alpha. Compared with the weanling, a significantly greater amount of
radioactivity cochromatographed with intact, unmetabolized prostaglandin F2
alpha (33.08 +/- 1.99 vs. 21.38 +/- 1.46). These results indicate that
orogastrically administered prostaglandin F2 alpha can be absorbed from the
gastrointestinal tract, transported to the liver, and subsequently excreted
into bile and detected in an unmetabolized form in suckling and weanling
rats. The enterohepatic circulation of milk-derived prostaglandin present
in bile may contribute to the overall content of intestinal prostaglandins.
