Effects of rose bengal on bile secretion in the rabbit: inhibition of a bile salt-independent fraction

Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The authors have studied the influence of rose bengal, and, by comparison, of uranin, on choleresis in the rabbit. Uranin induced an increase in bile flow and a decrease in bile salt concentration in bile. These results are consistent with an osmotic mechanism, as proposed by Sperber (1959). By contrast, rose bengal induced a marked decrease in bile flow and an increase in bile salt concentration. In rose bengal-treated animals (30 μmoles per kilogram body weight intravenously), bile flow was 65% lower and bile salt concentration 95% higher than in control animals studied during the same periods. The relationship between bile flow and bile salt excretion is consistent in the rabbit, with the existence of a bile salt-independent secretion of 60 mg per minute per kilogram body weight, that is, 60% of bile flow. In rose bengal-treated animals, this fraction was only 15 mg per minute per kilogram body weight. It is concluded that rose bengal inhibits the bile salt-independent fraction. Rose bengal, as other phtalein dyes, is excreted by the liver cells. Its effect on the bile salt-independent fraction suggests that this fraction is secreted by the hepatocytes.