Further evaluation of the interrelationship between the hepatocellular transport of bile acids and endocytosed proteins.

Experiments on the relationship between the hepatocellular transport of endogenous or exogenously loaded bile acids (sodium taurocholate, TC, 0.5 mumol/min/100 g body wt) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) or immunoglobulin A (IgA) (0.5 mg/100 g body wt) were carried out on anaesthetized Wistar rats. The time course of HRP excretion into bile (acceleration in the secretory peak), but not the total amount of HRP output, was affected by TC infusion. Administration of HRP was found to have no stimulatory effect on either spontaneous or TC-induced bile flow, bile acid, lecithin or cholesterol output. Spontaneous bile acid output was increased (25 and 67%, respectively) in rats that were treated for 12-h fasting or by oral administration of TC (45 mg/100 g body wt, every 12 h, for 2 days). These manoeuvres did not change the inability of HRP and IgA to increase bile acid output. Exogenous TC load had no stimulatory effect on the hepatocellular transport of endogenous bile acid pool, that was labelled by a combination of fasting and oral administration of 14C-glycocholic acid 12 h before the experiments. Therefore, exogenous bile acid load-induced stimulation of transcytosis had no effect on endogenous bile acid output. Moreover, bile secretion of both endogenous and exogenously loaded bile acids is unaffected by the administration of proteins, irrespective of whether they are endocytosed by a receptor or nonreceptor mediated process.