Abstract
The effect of starvation and glucose addition on glucuronidation was assessed in sublobular regions of the lobule in perfused livers from phenobarbital-treated rats. Fibre-optic micro-light guides were placed on periportal and pericentral areas on the surface of livers to monitor the fluorescence (excitation 366 nm, emission 450 nm) of free 7-hydroxycoumarin from the tissue surface. After infusion of 7-hydroxycoumarin (80 microM) under normoxic conditions, steady-state increases in fluorescence were reached in 6-8 min in both regions. Subsequently, the formation of non-fluorescent 7-hydroxycoumarin glucuronide was inhibited completely by perfusion with N2-saturated perfusate containing 20 mM-ethanol. The difference in fluorescence between anoxic and normoxic perfusions was due to glucuronidation under these conditions. In livers from fed rats, rates of glucuronidation in periportal and pericentral regions of the liver lobule were 8 and 19 mumol/h per g, respectively. In contrast, rates of glucuronidation were 3 and 9 mumol/h per g, respectively, in periportal and pericentral regions of livers from starved rats. Infusion of glucose (20 mM) had no effect on rates of glucuronidation in livers from fed rats; however, glucose increased rates of glucuronidation rapidly (half-time, t0.5 = 1.5 min) in periportal and pericentral regions to 7 and 17 mumol/h per g, respectively in livers from starved rats. These results indicate that the rapid synthesis of the cofactor UDP-glucuronic acid derived from glucose is an important rate-determinant for glucuronidation of 7-hydroxycoumarin in both periportal and pericentral regions of livers from starved rats.