Determination of the biliary tree capacity of the rat in its distended and nondistended state using 35 S-sulfobromophtalein glutathione (35 S-BSP-GSH) as a marker.

The biliary tree capacity of the rat in its nondistended and distended state has been previously determined as the volume of bile collected between the time of intravenous injection of a marker substance and the time at which the concentration of this marker in bile reached one-half maximal excretion rate. 1. According to this procedure modified methods are presented in this study using 35S-sulfobromophthalein glutathione as a test substance for the calculation of both the normal and the distended biliary tree. These approaches are based on the assumption that first measurable radioactivity, which follows the intravenous administration of the dye (most probably with no or only very little delay) indicates the time of appearance of the injected marker in the right and left hepatic duct. 2. The measured nondistended capacities are much smaller in comparison to those reported up until now. 3. The distended biliary tree was determined in two different ways. In one set of experiments, 35S-sulfobromophthalein glutathione was injected intravenously 2-3 sec, in another set 60 set, before termination of a 15 min biliary obstruction. The latter procedure was introduced to avoid transit time problems. Both experimental conditions revealed significantly different values for the distended state (69.8 +/- 7.1 vs. 56.9 +/- 6.7 microliter/rat liver).