Absorption of heparin injected into various parts of the rat intestinal tract: a bile-dependent mechanism?

Heparin sodium, dissolved in water, causes plasma clearing activity (PC) and appreciable heparinemia (HE) when directly delivered into the duodenum, the jejunum, the ileum or the large intestine of rats, as well as when administered through an esophageal tube to distal duodenum-ligated animals. However, choledochus occlusion significantly decreases both PC and HE produced by intraesophageal heparin application. It is suggested that, in rats, bile flow participates in intestinal heparin absorption.