The biliary and urinary excretion of iopanoic acid: pharmacokinetics, influence of bile salts, and choleretic effect. An experimental study in bile-fistula dogs.

The biliary and urinary excretion and the choleretic effect of iopanoic acid (Telepaque) were studied in nonanesthetized bile-fistula dogs using a stepwise increase of infusion rates of iopanoic acid and a constant infusion of sodium taurocholate at a rate of either 0.5 or 2.0 mumoles/min./kg. The maximum rate of bile excretion (0.671 mumoles/min./kg) when taurocholate was infused at the lower rate nearly doubled (1.325 mumoles/min./kg) when given at the higher rate. Maximum biliary concentrations of iopanoic acid at both rates of taurocholate infusion (70-77 mumoles/ml) were almost double the maximum concentration previously determined for iodipamide (Cholografin) (42 mumoles/ml).