F. Varga

Glutathione-dependent biliary excretion of arsenic

This study aimed to clarify whether glutathione (GSH) plays a role in the hepatobiliary transport of arsenic. For this purpose, the biliary excretion of 74As was measured in urethane-anaesthetized rats for 2 hr after the administration of labelled sodium arsenite (50 mumol/kg, i.v.) or arsenate (150 mumol/kg, i.v.) and under the influence of sulfobromophthalein (BSP), indocyanine green (ICG) or diethyl maleate (DEM) which are known to diminish hepatobiliary transport of GSH. Although the biliary excretion of arsenic was different after arsenite and arsenate administration in terms of quantity (19% vs 6% of dose in 2 hr, respectively) and time course, arsenic excretion responded similarly to BSP (50 mumol/kg, i.v.), ICG (25 mumol/kg, i.v.) or DEM (4 mumol/kg, i.p.) irrespective of the injected arsenical. Initially the biliary excretion of arsenic in rats with either arsenite or arsenate was significantly reduced, but then moderately increased by BSP and, more lastingly, depressed by ICG, whereas it was virtually abolished by DEM. The responses of arsenic excretion to BSP, ICG and DEM were related, both proportionally and temporally, to the effects exerted by these agents on the hepatobiliary transport of GSH, as assessed by the biliary excretion of non-protein thiols. These findings indicate that the biliary excretion of arsenic after the administration of either arsenite or arsenate is dependent on the hepatobiliary transport of GSH. Transport of arsenic as a GSH complex may account for the GSH dependence of biliary arsenic excretion.

Effect of lipoic acid on biliary excretion of glutathione and metals

Several metals are excreted in bile as glutathione complexes, and their biliary excretion is facilitated by increased hepatobiliary transport of glutathione. The present study analyzed the effect of lipoic acid (LA; thioctic acid; 37.5-300 mumol/kg, iv), an endogenous disulfide which can be reduced in vivo to a dithiol, on the hepatobiliary disposition of glutathione-related thiols and the biliary excretion of metals (10 mumol/kg, iv) in rats. Administration of LA enhanced the biliary excretion of reduced glutathione in a dose-dependent fashion. Despite increasing glutathione output, LA (150 mumol/kg, iv) did not increase, but rather decreased, the biliary excretion of methylmercury, cadmium, zinc, and copper, which are transported into bile in a glutathione-dependent manner, as indicated by a marked reduction in their biliary excretion after diethyl maleate-induced glutathione depletion. In contrast, biliary excretion of inorganic mercury, which is minimally affected by glutathione depletion, was dramatically enhanced (12- to 37-fold) by LA administration. Following injection of LA, the concentrations of endogenous disulfides in arterial blood plasma (e.g., cystine, glutathione disulfide, cysteine-glutathione, protein-cysteine, and protein-glutathione mixed disulfides) were considerably diminished, while the levels of endogenous thiols (e.g., glutathione and cysteine) were increased. This finding indicates that LA, probably after enzymatic conversion to dihydrolipoic acid, can reduce endogenous disulfides to thiols. It appears that LA induces the transport of glutathione into bile by the temporary formation of dihydrolipoic acid-glutathione mixed disulfide, which after being translocated into bile is cleaved to LA and reduced glutathione. Because the glutathione molecule thus transported into bile cannot complex metals at the thiol group, this might be the mechanism for the observed failure of the LA-induced increase in biliary excretion of glutathione to enhance the hepatobiliary transport of metals that are transported into bile as glutathione complexes (i.e., methylmercury, cadmium, zinc, and copper). The observations also raise the possibility that endogenous dihydrolipoic acid, by forming a stable complex with mercuric ion, may play the role of a carrier molecule in the hepatobiliary transport of inorganic mercury.

Effect of arsenicals on biliary excretion of endogenous glutathione and xenobiotics with glutathione-dependent hepatobiliary transport.

Sodium arsenite (25-100 mumol/kg, i.v.) and arsenate (75-300 mumol/kg, i.v.) injected into anaesthetized rats increased the biliary excretion of endogenous non-protein thiols (NPSH) in a dose-dependent fashion up to 24- and 31-fold, respectively. Simultaneously with NPSH, glutathione (GS) excretion was increased to a similar extent suggesting that the increment in biliary thiol output originated from enhanced hepatobiliary transport of GS. After administration of labelled arsenicals, biliary excretion of 74As and NPSH followed similar time-courses. Biliary excretion of 74As was more efficient after arsenite than arsenate administration corresponding to the greater potency of arsenite compared to arsenate to increase biliary output of NPSH. Coadministered sulfobromophthalein (BSP) inhibited the biliary excretion of 74As and prevented the arsenical-induced increase in biliary NPSH. Thus, hepatobiliary transport of arsenic apparently proceeds coordinately with that of GS. However, excretion of each molecule of arsenic compound generates transport of several molecules of GS. Though mercuric, methylmercuric, cadmium and zinc ions are thought to be excreted into bile as complexes with GS, the marked arsenical-induced increase in GS excretion only doubled the biliary excretion of inorganic mercury and hardly influenced the transport of other metals into bile. This finding suggests that arsenicals markedly enhance biliary excretion of GS with a free thiol group but barely or not at all that of GS with a thiol group blocked by a firmly bound metal ion. Both arsenicals diminished the biliary excretion of BSP-glutathione conjugate after BSP administration presumably because they impaired conjugation of BSP with GSH due to decreased GS availability. It is assumed that arsenite, and arsenate after reduction to arsenite, forms an unstable complex with GS that is efficiently transported into bile resulting in increased biliary output of GS. It is demonstrated that arsenite-induced perturbation of hepatobiliary disposition of endogenous GS differentially affects biliary excretion of xenobiotics with GS-dependent hepatobiliary transport.

Biliary excretion of bromsulphthalein and glutathione conjugate of bromsulphthalein in rats pretreated with diethyl maleate

Abstract In rats diethyl maleate (DEM, 0.7 ml/kg i.p.) decreased the hepatic glutathione level to one tenth of the control value. Owing to the low glutathione level the conjugation of bromsulphthalein (BSP) with glutathione was markedly depressed. DEM-treated rats were given BSP and a glutathione conjugate of BSP (BSP-GSH) intravenously at various dose levels, and their biliary excretion and tissue concentrations were determined. No significant difference between the hepatic transport maxima for BSP (673 μg/min/kg) and for BSP-GSH (689 μg/min/kg) was found. BSP-GSH increased the biliary flow, BSP diminished it. Depending on the dose, 52–83 per cent of the BSP administered was taken up by the liver in 45 min, whereas the BSP-GSH predominantly appeared in extra-hepatic tissues. The half saturation doses for transport maxima were 75 mg/kg for BSP and 31 mg/ kg for BSP-GSH. After administration of these doses the hepatic concentration of BSP was approximately ten times as high as the hepatic concentration of BSP-GSH.

Increased biliary excretion of glutathione is generated by the glutathione-dependent hepatobiliary transport of antimony and bismuth

We have recently demonstrated that the hepatobiliary transport of arsenic is glutathione-dependent and is associated with a profound increase in biliary excretion of glutathione (GSH), hepatic GSH depletion and diminished GSH conjugation (Gyurasics A, Varga F and Gregus Z, Biochem Pharmacol 41: 937-944 and Gyurasics A, Varga F and Gregus Z, Biochem Pharmacol 42: 465-468, 1991). The present studies in rats aimed to determine whether antimony and bismuth, other metalloids in group Va of the periodic table, also possess similar properties. Antimony potassium tartrate (25-100 mumol/kg, i.v.) and bismuth ammonium citrate (50-200 mumol/kg, i.v.) increased up to 50- and 4-fold, respectively, the biliary excretion of non-protein thiols (NPSH). This resulted mainly from increased hepatobiliary transport of GSH as suggested by a close parallelism in the biliary excretion of NPSH and GSH after antimony or bismuth administration. Within 2 hr, rats excreted into bile 55 and 3% of the dose of antimony (50 mumol/kg, i.v.) and bismuth (150 mumol/kg, i.v.), respectively. The time courses of the biliary excretion of these metalloids and NPSH or GSH were strikingly similar suggesting co-ordinate hepatobiliary transport of the metalloids and GSH. However, at the peak of their excretion, each molecule of antimony or bismuth resulted in a co-transport of approximately three molecules of GSH. Diethyl maleate, indocyanine green and sulfobromophthalein (BSP), which decreased biliary excretion of GSH, significantly diminished excretion of antimony and bismuth into bile indicating that hepatobiliary transport of these metalloids is GSH-dependent. Administration of antimony, but not bismuth, decreased hepatic GSH level by 30% and reduced the GSH conjugation and biliary excretion of BSP. These studies demonstrate that the hepatobiliary transport of trivalent antimony and bismuth is GSH-dependent similarly to the hepatobiliary transport of trivalent arsenic. Proportionally to their biliary excretion rates, these metalloids generate increased biliary excretion of GSH probably because they are transported from liver to bile as unstable GSH complexes. The significant loss of hepatic GSH into bile as induced by arsenic or antimony may compromise conjugation of xenobiotics with GSH.

Bile Flow and Biliary Excretion Rate of Some Organic Anions in Phenobarbital-Pretreated Rats

Bile flow and the biliary excretion of indocyanine green, bromcresol green, eosine, bromsulphthalein-glutathione conjugate (BSP-GSH), amaranth and iodoxamic acid were investigated in control and phenobarbital-pretreated rats (75 mg/kg i.p. daily for 5 days). The bile flow was increased by phenobarbital from an average of 50.6 to 77.7 microliter/kg/min. Depending on the dose, the biliary excretion rate of bromcresol green was increased by 48-496% and that of eosine by 30-149%. After phenobarbital pretreatment the excretion of BSP-GSH was also enhanced by 34-52%, that of amaranth by 37-53% and that of iodoxamic acid by 40-56%. However, the biliary excretion of indocyanine green remained unchanged. There was no parallelism between the increase in bile flow and biliary excretion of the drugs.

Age dependence of hepatic transport in control and phenobarbital-pretreated rats

Abstract Eosine is excreted in rat bile unchanged, which makes it suitable for the study of age dependent changes in hepatic uptake and excretion. Bile flow was approximately 40 μl/kg/min in 20-day-old rats and twice as high in 30-day-old animals. In 60- and 120-day-old rats the bile volume was decreased, moreover in 220-day-old ones it fell to the level of 20-day-old rats. The biliary excretion of eosine (150 μmol/kg i.v.) was highest in 60-day-old rats, however, the biliary flow reached its peak in 30-day-old rats. After phenobarbital (PB) pretreatment (75 mg/kg i.p. daily for five days) each age group showed enhancement in liver weight and bile volume. On the other hand, the hepatic concentration of eosine did not change after PB pretreatment caused an increase in the biliary excretion of eosine in 30-, 60-, 120- and 220-day-old rats but no significant change in 20-day-old animals. Our results indicate that the hepatic transport in young rats was immature and was not induced by PB. However, PB can increase the low excretion rate in old rats.

Effects of barbiturates on the hepatic cytochrome P-450 dependent enzyme system and biliary excretion of exogenous organic anions in rats

Effect of pretreatment (150 mumol/kg i.p. twice daily for 5 days) wtih six barbiturates (barbital, butobarbital, pentobarbital, amobarbital, phenobarbital and thiopental) on the hepatic microsomal drug methabolizing enzyme system and biliary excretion of bromcresol green and bromsulphthalein-glutathione conjugate has been investigated in rats. All six barburates produced microsomal induction. Phenobarbital, thiopental, barbital and butobarbital increased liver weight, biliary flow and biliary excretion of bromcresol green and bromsulphthalein-glutathione conjugate, however, pentobarbital and amobarbital were ineffective in these parameters. Our results seem to indicate that the enhanced biliary excretion of exogenous anions produced by barbiturates is independent of microsomal enzyme induction.

Effect of Gastric Emptying Rate on the Intestinal Absorption of Chloroquine in Rats

After oral administration, chloroquine caused a dose-related delay in gastric emptying and in its own absorption from the small intestine in rats. Acetyl-beta-methylcholine (0.75 mg/kg i.p.) did not influence the intraperitoneal LD50 value of chloroquine (102 mg/kg) significantly, but reduced oral LD50 from 1,080 to 280 mg/kg. Acetyl-beta-methylcholine increased both the gastric emptying rate and the propulsion motility of the small intestine. As a consequence, the intestinal mucosal surface that had come into contact with the drug was increased in size, resulting in more rapid absorption of chloroquine. Infusion of chloroquine at a rate of 1 mg/min/kg into a mesenteric vein was tolerated by anaesthetized rats for hours. Increasing the dose, however, led to shorter survival times and eventually to death. It is concluded that gastric emptying may play an important role in the rate of intestinal absorption and in the oral toxicity of drugs.