Bilirubin-14C Turnover Studies in Normal and Mutant Southdown Sheep with Congenital Hyperbilirubinemia

Bilirubin-14C turnover was studied in normal and mutant Southdown sheep with congenital hyperbilirubinemia. In-tercompartmental rate constants, pool sizes, and transfer rates of unconjugated bilirubin (UCB) were calculated from the plasma bilirubin-14C disappearance curve. The net hepatic uptake per minute of UCB was on the average 1.4% of the mixing pool in mutants as compared with 4.4% in normal sheep. The hepatic uptake defect for UCB in mutant Southdown sheep closely resembles that previously reported in Gilberts'syndrome in man.