Recovery of hepatic clearance and extraction following a release of common bile duct obstruction in the rat.

The rate of recovery for hepatic clearance and extraction following release of common-duct obstruction was investigated in the rat. Male Wistar rats underwent ligation of a cannulated common bile duct. Two weeks later, the cannula was opened and implanted into the duodenum, thus re-establishing enterohepatic circulation. Hepatic extraction and indocyanine green clearance were determined in three groups of six rats each, which differed by the time elapsed from the re-establishment of communication between the common bile duct and duodenum, i.e., 1, 48 and 168 h, respectively. A fourth group, in which a sham operation was performed, served as a control. Clearance was reduced from 16.9 +/- 2.5 ml/min per kg in the control group to 2.9 +/- 0.8, 5.4 +/- 2.4, and 8.5 +/- 3.3 ml/min per kg 1, 48, and 168 h, respectively, after release of common-bile-duct obstruction. Extraction rate was reduced from 37.3 +/- 5.9% to 17.5 +/- 2.7% in the 1st hour and recovered completely at 1 week. Thus, in the rat, release of a 2-week common-bile-duct obstruction is associated with complete recovery of the extraction capacity of the liver within a week, but only incomplete recovery of clearance. This decrease in clearance seems to be due to a decrease in effective hepatic blood flow, mostly probably due to the development of porto-systemic shunts.