Phototherapy in bile duct-ligated Gunn rats.

Davis and co-workers reported on the failure of phototherapy to reduce plasma bilirubin levels in the bile duct-ligated Gunn rat. We cannot confirm this conclusion. We found that the effect was reduced by a factor of 4-5. With higher effective irradiances distinct decreases of the serum bilirubin concentration can be achieved and the excretion of bilirubin photoproducts in the urine markedly will rise.