ABSTRACT
Many non-bile acid organic anions enter hepatocytes, where they are converted into polar conjugates and preferentially secreted into bile. ATP-dependent and membrane potential-dependent transport of non-bile acid organic anions across the plasma membrane of rat hepatocytes was studied in canalicular (CMV) or sinusoidal membrane vesicles (SMV) using sulfobromophthalein (BSP), a representative non-bile acid organic anion. Temperature-dependent, osmotically sensitive, saturable, ATP-dependent, and unidirectional (inside to outside) BSP transport was observed in CMV but not in SMV. Apparent Michaelis constants for ATP and BSP were 0.26 mM and 31 microM, respectively. ATP-dependent BSP transport was inhibited by oxidized glutathione, dinitrophenyl-glutathione (GSDNP), BSP glutathione, and bilirubin diglucuronide but not by daunomycin, taurocholate, and reduced glutathione. Inhibition by GSDNP and bilirubin diglucuronide was competitive, with apparent inhibitor constants of 41 and 4.2 microM, respectively. CMV from normal rats demonstrated ATP-dependent and membrane potential-dependent BSP transport that was additive. CMV from TR- rats lacked ATP-dependent BSP transport but retained membrane potential-dependent transport of non-bile acid organic anions as well as ATP-dependent transport mechanisms for organic cations (i.e., daunomycin) and bile acids (i.e., taurocholate).
Subject(s)
Adenosine Triphosphate/pharmacology , Anions/metabolism , Animals , Bile Canaliculi/cytology , Bile Canaliculi/metabolism , Biological Transport/drug effects , Cell Membrane/metabolism , Hyperbilirubinemia/genetics , Liver/cytology , Liver/metabolism , Osmolar Concentration , Rats , Rats, Mutant Strains , Reference Values , Sulfobromophthalein/pharmacokinetics , TemperatureABSTRACT
TR- mutant Wistar rats secrete markedly fewer organic anions other than bile acids from the liver into the bile than do control rats. Fluorescence-image analysis of isolated normal and TR- hepatocyte "doublets", which retain a bile canaliculus between them, revealed that normal hepatocytes readily transport a fluorescent bile acid (fluorescein isothiocyanate glycocholate) and a nonbile acid organic anion (carboxydichlorofluorescein diacetate) into the canaliculus. Hepatocyte doublets from TR- rats also transported fluorescein isothiocyanate glycocholate normally, but transport of carboxydichlorofluorescein diacetate into the canaliculus was negligible. Vesicles derived from the canicular domain of the plasma membrane of hepatocytes (CMV) from control and TR- rats were used to characterize the transport process for 35S-labeled bromosulphthalein and 35S-labeled bromosulphthalein glutathione, which represent nonbile acid organic anions. CMV from normal rat hepatocytes had an ATP- and temperature-dependent, saturable transport process for these 35S-labeled compounds that was absent in CMV from TR- rats. CMV from TR- rats retained normal ATP-dependent transport of daunomycin, and immunologic blots with a monoclonal antibody against the multidrug resistance gene product, P-glycoprotein, revealed no difference between normal and TR-CMV. These studies reveal that the bile canaliculus in normal rats contains an ATP-dependent organic anion transport system that is functionally absent in TR- mutant rats. The defect in TR- mutant rats is phenotypically similar to that seen in mutant Corriedale sheep and in the Dubin-Johnson syndrome in man.
