Measurement of Liver Blood Flow by Means of a Single Injection of Bromosulphthalein, without Hepatic Venous Catheterization

Abstract

1. A method is described for the measurement of liver blood flow without hepatic venous catheterization by the injection of the a single dose of bromosulphthalein and the analysis of the graph of the plasma disappearance of the indicator. 2. The rationale of the method was tested in three systems which covered a wide range of flow rates. The first system was a physical model with a haemodialyser in which the calculated flow could be compared with the flow measured directly. The second was in anesthetized dogs, in which the calculated flow was compared with that measured by continuous infusion and hepatic venous catheterization, based on the Fick principle. The third system was in unanaesthetized turkeys, in which metabolism of bromosulphthalein does not occur. The calculated flow was compared with the flow measured simultaneously by the uptake of collodial particles by the Kupffer cells. 3. In all three systems the correspondence between the two methods of measuring liver blood flow was good, the differences between them being not statistically significant. 4. The method has been applied to measurements of liver blood flow in man and animals and gives results comparable with those reported by other workers.

The Measurement of Liver Blood Flow in Conscious Calves

“…When Clarkson et al (1976) extended the Richard's model to derive 'hepatic plasma flow', they went well beyond the usually justifiable assumptions made in fitting models to biological observations. The derivation of concentration profiles along the hepatic sinusoid appears to ignore the observations of Goresky (1964 andalso 1976) which established that the uptake of BSP by the liver was a saturable process with a Vmax (maximal transport rate) from the space of Disse approximately 16 times that for excretion into bile.…”

“…The pools were plasma BSP and liver BSP and they derived four parameters from the clearance curve, namely, the apparent plasma volume (VO), the rate constant for transfer of BSP from plasma to liver (a), the rate constant for transfer of BSP from liver to plasma (b) and the rate constant for excretion of BSP from liver into bile (h). In Clarkson et al (1976), Richards proposed that E.H.P.F. could be calculated from these four parameters.…”

“…After fitting double exponential functions, the program derived the model rate constants of Richards et al (1959) and from these calculated aV (BSP proportional influx into liver) and AK (A = area of sinusoid membrane, K = permeability constant) which were used by Clarkson et al (1976) to estimate hepatic plasma flow F by aV = F(l -exp (-AK/F)).…”

“…The work described in this paper provides a comparison of hepatic plasma flow estimated using the Fick principle and that calculated by the method of Clarkson et al (1976). A 9-2 236 F. A. HARRISON, F. HILLS, J. Y. F. PATERSON AND R. C. SAUNDERS preliminary report has been presented to the Physiological Society (Green, Harrison, Hills, Paterson & Saunders, 1984 Harrison (1969).…”

“…They proposed a model in which BSP is exchanged between plasma and hepatocytes, and is cleared unidirectionally from hepatocytes into bile. With others, Richards later postulated that hepatic plasma flow could be calculated from the rate constants in this model (Clarkson, Hardy-Smith & Richards, 1976).…”