Figure 1.

Simplified illustration of sepsis-associated impairment of hepatobiliary excretion. Endo- and xenobiotics are taken up from the bloodstream via transport proteins at the basolateral pole. After transcellular transport with or without biotransformation, endo- and xenobiotics are biliary excreted via transport proteins at the canalicular pole. Sufficient hepatic excretory function depends on various factors which all can be impaired under septic conditions. Atorvastatin can serve as a typical example for profoundly impaired pharmacokinetics under septic conditions leading to supratherapeutic plasma levels after a single oral dose [23]. E, endobiotics; X, xenobiotics).