IDENTIFICATION OF METABOLITES OF SULFOBROMOPHTHALEIN *

Abstract

Sulfobromophthalein (BSP) is normally cleared from the blood by the liver and excreted into the bile. Brauer, Krebs and Pessotti (1) originally reported that part of the pigment appearing in dog bile was chromatographically different from the in- jected dye. Our studies using differenlt chromato- graphic techniques indicate that in man the bulk of the recovered pigments (65 to 75 per cent, ac- cording to estimates based on their absorption at 575 nu) consists of two metabolites. Similar metabolites are normally found in the urine and trace amounts also appear in the serum. The ab- sorption spectra in the visible range and the in- dicator characteristics of BSP and the metabolic products were indistinguishable (2).