ROLE OF BIOTRANSFORMATION, BILIARY EXCRETION AND CIRCULATORY CHANGES IN CHLORPROMAZINE-INDUCED SULFOBROMOPHTHALEIN RETENTION

¹ Department of Pharmacology, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana

Chlorpromazine has been shown to have little or no effect on either the biotransformation or the biliary excretion of sulfobromophthalein (BSP) in rats and mice. This phenothiazine derivative in high doses does, however, affect the biliary excretion of BSP in the isolated perfused rat liver. The data are interpreted to indicate that phenothiazine-induced plasma retention of BSP in vivo is not due primarily to impaired metabolism or excretion, but most likely to a decrease in hepatic blood flow. Additional studies have shown that known vasoactive agents can affect the rate of BSP uptake from plasma and that carbon particle distribution in the liver is altered by chlorpromazine treatment in a manner which is consistent with the concept of hepatic schemia.