Enterohepatic circulation of clioquinol in the rat.

The existence of the enterohepatic circulation (EHC) of clioquinol was confirmed by using paired rats, donor and recipient, which were connected to each other with a bile duct-to-duodenum cannula. The concentrations of clioquinol and its metabolites appearing in the plasma of the recipient following intraduodenal 10 mg/kg dose of clioquinol to the donor were fairly low. However, within 24 h after the administration ca. 12% of the dose was reexcreted in the bile of the recipient as clioquinol glucuronide and ca. 2% in the urine as clioquinol sulfate. From these results and the data of biliary excretion in our previous paper, the glucuronide was found to play a role on the EHC. Further, both in vitro and in situ results suggested that clioquinol glucuronide excreted in the bile may be absorbed partially after return to the parent drug in the intestinal tract and partially as such without deconjugation.