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. 1980 May;65(5):1032–1040. doi: 10.1172/JCI109755

Inhibition of Hepatic Binding of Thyroxine by Cholecystographic Agents

James V Felicetta 1, William L Green 1, Wil B Nelp 1
PMCID: PMC371433  PMID: 7364937

Abstract

Subsequent to studies indicating that cholecystographic agents and sulfobromophthalein (BSP) inhibit uptake of thyroxine (T4) by rat liver slices, the effect of such compounds on hepatic storage of T4 in man has been examined. After intravenous administration of [125I]T4 to five normal subjects, hepatic radioactivity, estimated by external gamma counting, rose to a peak in ∼4 h and then declined in parallel with serum radioactivity. When a 6-g dose of the cholecystographic agent, tyropanoate (Bilopaque), was administered orally 3 d later, estimated hepatic extravascular radioactivity fell 50-60% within 4 h and then rose toward the pretyropanoate value. Concomitant with the fall in hepatic radioactivity, serum radioactivity rose 57-70%, as did stable T4 levels in serum, suggesting that hormone discharged from the liver entered the serum. Both uptake of T4 and discharge by tyropanoate were much less in two patients with liver disease.

Ipodate (Oragrafin), 12 g orally in two subjects, caused much smaller changes in hepatic and serum radioactivity. However, ipodate also caused a doubling of the percent free T4 in the serum as judged by equilibrium dialysis, and the ratio of hepatic radioactivity to free [125I]T4 in serum declined markedly after ipodate, similar to the fall in hepatic:serum 125I ratios after tyropanoate. BSP, 20 mg/kg i.v. in three subjects, caused a smaller change; the decline in hepatic T4 content averaged 19%.

We conclude that these organic anions, tyropanoate, ipodate, and BSP, all can displace T4 from the liver. The results imply a link between T4 transport and organic anion transport, and indicate a mechanism for altering hepatic T4 content in man that could be the site of physiologic regulation or of disease. A method is described whereby analysis of the change in hepatic and plasma radioactivity after tyropanoate could be employed to estimate hepatic T4 content in diverse clinical circumstances.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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