Effects of colchicine on the hepatocellular transport of indocyanine green in the rat.

The effects of colchicine on plasma elimination and biliary excretion of indocyanine green (ICG) and sulfobromophthalein (BSP) in rats were examined. Elimination of two different doses of ICG (6 mg and 20 mg/kg body weight) from plasma was significantly delayed when rats were treated with colchicine (3 mg/kg body weight) 3 h prior to the administration of the dye. On the other hand, disappearance of BSP (100 mg/kg) from plasma was not influenced by colchicine. The fact that the difference in the ICG elimination from plasma between colchicine-treated and saline-treated rats was minimal in the early period (i.e., 2 min after administration of the dye), but evident after its half-life (i.e., 10 min, when 6 mg/kg body weight of ICG was given), suggested that colchicine mainly affected the hepatocellular transport of ICG rather than the uptake of the dye by hepatocytes. Colchicine also significantly reduced the excretion of ICG (6 mg and 20 mg/kg) into bile but did not alter that of BSP (100 mg and 200 mg/kg). On the other hand, the same amount of lumicolchicine (3 mg/kg) did not have any effect on the biliary excretion of ICG. These results suggested that ICG is transported through hepatocytes into bile with the aid of the cytoplasmic microtubular system, whereas BSP is handled by hepatocytes in a different way.